MS Dhoni has not had too much to smile about in recent months, as his India side suffered unexpected home defeats in Test and ODI cricket, but he was able to pack away the defensive frown and wary gaze and enjoy the occasion in Ranchi, as India strolled to a seven-wicket victory in the first international match ever to be staged in his hometown. Dhoni was even out in the middle to hit the winning runs and soak up the atmosphere as England, who appeared as eager as the crowd to give him a day to remember, slipped 2-1 down in the five-match series.

All of India's bowlers contributed in a concerted display, aided by a touch of early movement and a middle-order collapse against spin of familiar proportions. Dhoni also claimed three catches, including a diving take to dismiss England's top-scorer, Joe Root, and a sharp chance at the wicket off Ian Bell, as England were once again spooked by the ghosts of their recent past in 50-over cricket in India, mustering a paltry 155.

India's innings proved that the pitch was a good one - the curator had predicted a score of 350 for the side batting first but he was obviously banking on that side being India. Although Steven Finn cleaned up Ajinkya Rahane again, bowled through the gate for the second time in as many matches, and James Tredwell claimed his sixth and seventh wickets of the series, Virat Kohli made sure England were the only ones doing any chasing. Kohli twice hammered Tredwell over the ropes, to go with a further nine fours in an unbeaten 77, his return to form yet another fillip for his captain.

England's total was their second-lowest batting first against India (in full matches), as they subsided from an initially promising 68 for 1. Although there was an element of luck about the second breakthrough, as the sound of Kevin Pietersen's bat on pad seemed to deceive the umpire into awarding a caught behind, India did not owe their victory to fortune. The early dismissals of Alastair Cook, Pietersen and Bell left the middle order exposed and despite another promising display of character from Root, who put on 47 with Tim Bresnan, India were always in control.

Smart stats

India won the match with 131 balls to spare, which is their largest margin of win in ODIs against England (in terms of balls remaining). The previous highest was 123, in Jaipur in 2006.

England's highest score in their innings was 39, which is the sixth-lowest top-score for them in a completed ODI against India.

Virat Kohli has become the second-fastest cricketer to 4000 ODI runs, in terms of innings batted. Viv Richards achieved the landmark in 88 innings, while Kohli reached there in his 93rd.

For the second match in a row, three England batsmen were dismissed without scoring. Before the Kochi game, this had only happened four times for England in ODIs against India.

Ranchi became the 42nd Indian venue, and the 182nd venue in the world, to host a one-day international.

The gods had already smiled on Dhoni at the toss, as he was given the option and chose to insert an England side still apparently winded from their emphatic, 127-run defeat in Kochi on Tuesday. Although the pitch looked hard and flat, there was a light covering of grass and just enough moisture to aid the bowlers, further justifying Dhoni's decision, made ostensibly in view of the possibility of evening dew making the ball difficult to grip. By the time the sun set, however, it was the match that had slipped out of England's hands.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed bowled impressive opening spells and although Cook christened the ground with its first international boundary, in the second over, England's captain was soon undone by swing. The fans at the newly constructed 39,000-capacity Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium had come to see only one inspirational leader among the two sides, and the cheer that went up when he moved across his stumps to be hit in front by a Shami delivery that curved back at him confirmed it was not Cook.

Pietersen is an England player capable of whipping up an Indian crowd but they were even more delighted by his downfall. Having added 44 in 41 balls with Bell, both batsmen fell in consecutive overs, Pietersen given out after again briefly threatening despite there being no apparent edge. Pietersen was visibly reluctant to drag himself away after fencing at a length ball from Ishant Sharma that rose sharply, the awkwardness of his stroke forcing the bat into the flap of his front pad. If there was doubt about that dismissal, there was none three balls later as Dhoni collected a scrape off the toe of Bell's bat while standing up to Bhuvneshwar.

England were never able to feel at home on the Ranchi surface and India's hold on the match was further strengthened as Morgan tamely lobbed the ball to short-third man. Morgan laboured for 10 off 30 balls in a manner reminiscent of his poor form in the UAE last year, playing and missing against the quicks before getting out attempting a premeditated reverse-swipe through point against R Ashwin. Ravindra Jadeja then burst one through a loose defensive shot from Craig Kieswetter and pinned Samit Patel lbw pushing half forward as three wickets fell for one run in nine balls to send the crowd into further raptures.

Root again dropped anchor, displaying familiar circumspection and timing a handful of boundaries. He and the returning Bresnan - the one change on either side - formed a Yorkshire coalition in an attempt to heave England towards a respectable total but a loose drive from Root gave Ishant his second wicket and the spinners quickly cleaned up the tail.

Before the start, there was already a palpable sense of anticipation in the ground at the return of Dhoni, India's captain and their standard-bearer during a testing recent run in ODI cricket. A light aircraft trailed a message in coloured smoke across the milky blue sky as Dhoni was interviewed at the toss. "It's a big moment for me but it's important to be focused," he said.

Dhoni also suggested that he may have played cricket with "at least 15,000" of the crowd, during his tennis-ball days as a youngster in Jharkhand, but his ten team-mates on the pitch were more than enough to rout a dismal England.

I hope England get some reinforcements in the next 2 ODI's. They need Prior, Trott & Panesar. Patel's heroics aided by poor bowling by Ishant helped England eke out a close win in the first ODI. But Seamers Finn, Dernbach & Bresnan have done a poor job in the first 3 ODI's so far. Indian seamers are not as pacy but apart from Ishant, Kumar & Shami are pretty accurate. It is Jadeja who has been doing the damage with his LH spinners. Fortunately for Dhoni & India, Kohli has finally showed up! He was the mainstay of India in the Past ODI's until he started his failures vs. Pakistan. India had a chance to reinforce their XI but consistent dropping of Pujara has not helped. The openers are still failing badly.At least their bowling is getting steadier. Both the teams still have lot of problems. Let us see how they cope in the last 2 ODI's.

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 14:44 GMT

Good win for India once again.Initially i was surprised when Dhoni called Eng in,it was certainly a gamble but paid off well.Middle order batsman from Eng were playing for spin which was not there and that lead to their dismissal.Relief for fans as India started losing at home too after losing badly outside.After first match it looked like another failure but good comeback.We should not forget that England is currently no 1 team in ICC rankings and they have beaten Pakistan(who won in India last month) recently in similar conditions at UAE and Aus at home.So the victories against them are very encouraging for our youngsters.However Indian fans should not get carried away by couple of ODI victories , lot of improvement is needed as India have been struggling in all formats from last two years.For Eng wickets of Pietersen and Cook were crucial,one of them should have played long innings to guide struggling middle order, but luckily India got those two precious wickets early.

Harmony111
on January 22, 2013, 17:48 GMT

@OzWally:

Alright dear, I take your point and nod in agreement with the opportunism you talk of. :-)

Shan156
on January 22, 2013, 17:45 GMT

@MAR00N5, remind us, since you care so much about #1 ranking, who was #1 before India took over last week in ODIs?

@JG2704, I hope what @Harmony111 says is true (that majority of the Indians love test cricket). Because, if they have more 'fans' like @MAR00N5, then test cricket will die soon. Already we are seeing 2 test series between SA and Aus. SL doesn't host more tests these days. That is why I was quite glad to see India play a lot of 4 test series and, in fact, they will be playing a 5 test series in England next time. For the sake of test cricket at least, we need a strong Indian team.

@Shan156 on (January 21 2013, 03:16 AM GMT) Mate , I totally agree although I think you may be fighting a losing battle with Billy Joel although I'd say more Prodigy (hopefully you'll get that one). I think folk don't even know what they type half the time. The guy who was saying he hated tests was commenting plenty on the last series when results were going the way he liked but then went missing but according to his friend he doesn't hate tests - he just prefers ODIs/T20s . Funny , I remember at one point he categorically said he hated Tests and wasn't even interested in international T20s - just IPL. Please publish this time

IluvInd123
on January 22, 2013, 12:14 GMT

@yorkshiregenius : Same question to u Mr. Genius. Wat's the difference b/w Afghan & ur team? Both never won World Cup and Ind did it twice and other countries playing cric considerable amt of time have won. Lol... No hard feelings plz ....

yorkshiregenius
on January 22, 2013, 8:58 GMT

@MAR00N5: It doesn't matter if you can't win test matches but your comments like "who cares about Test cricket" make me feel like why you guys still play any form of cricket. If you don't play test matches then what's the difference between your team and Afghanistan cricket team? Because both teams win couple of ODIs once in a blue moon in between numerous series defeats...ROFLOL

30-30-150
on January 22, 2013, 8:29 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy.. England may be a better Test team than India but who cares about Test cricket? Us Indians treat Test cricket just like how you English treat limited-overs, i.e, we don't care. The turn-out at the stadiums during Test matches in India justifies the fact. Anyhow Test cricket is gonna die out, ODIs and T20s will stay for a very long time and we are the kings of these formats.

Fast_Track_Bully
on January 22, 2013, 7:14 GMT

@EnglishCricket. Yes. It should be England who lost 12 out of 13 games played in India. nice joke. First achieve something by beating others. At least we were able to hold test no:1 for more than 1 year. You will tell WC too will be given to Engalnd as you started playing it early. lol

Nampally
on January 19, 2013, 23:59 GMT

I hope England get some reinforcements in the next 2 ODI's. They need Prior, Trott & Panesar. Patel's heroics aided by poor bowling by Ishant helped England eke out a close win in the first ODI. But Seamers Finn, Dernbach & Bresnan have done a poor job in the first 3 ODI's so far. Indian seamers are not as pacy but apart from Ishant, Kumar & Shami are pretty accurate. It is Jadeja who has been doing the damage with his LH spinners. Fortunately for Dhoni & India, Kohli has finally showed up! He was the mainstay of India in the Past ODI's until he started his failures vs. Pakistan. India had a chance to reinforce their XI but consistent dropping of Pujara has not helped. The openers are still failing badly.At least their bowling is getting steadier. Both the teams still have lot of problems. Let us see how they cope in the last 2 ODI's.

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 14:44 GMT

Good win for India once again.Initially i was surprised when Dhoni called Eng in,it was certainly a gamble but paid off well.Middle order batsman from Eng were playing for spin which was not there and that lead to their dismissal.Relief for fans as India started losing at home too after losing badly outside.After first match it looked like another failure but good comeback.We should not forget that England is currently no 1 team in ICC rankings and they have beaten Pakistan(who won in India last month) recently in similar conditions at UAE and Aus at home.So the victories against them are very encouraging for our youngsters.However Indian fans should not get carried away by couple of ODI victories , lot of improvement is needed as India have been struggling in all formats from last two years.For Eng wickets of Pietersen and Cook were crucial,one of them should have played long innings to guide struggling middle order, but luckily India got those two precious wickets early.

Harmony111
on January 22, 2013, 17:48 GMT

@OzWally:

Alright dear, I take your point and nod in agreement with the opportunism you talk of. :-)

Shan156
on January 22, 2013, 17:45 GMT

@MAR00N5, remind us, since you care so much about #1 ranking, who was #1 before India took over last week in ODIs?

@JG2704, I hope what @Harmony111 says is true (that majority of the Indians love test cricket). Because, if they have more 'fans' like @MAR00N5, then test cricket will die soon. Already we are seeing 2 test series between SA and Aus. SL doesn't host more tests these days. That is why I was quite glad to see India play a lot of 4 test series and, in fact, they will be playing a 5 test series in England next time. For the sake of test cricket at least, we need a strong Indian team.

@Shan156 on (January 21 2013, 03:16 AM GMT) Mate , I totally agree although I think you may be fighting a losing battle with Billy Joel although I'd say more Prodigy (hopefully you'll get that one). I think folk don't even know what they type half the time. The guy who was saying he hated tests was commenting plenty on the last series when results were going the way he liked but then went missing but according to his friend he doesn't hate tests - he just prefers ODIs/T20s . Funny , I remember at one point he categorically said he hated Tests and wasn't even interested in international T20s - just IPL. Please publish this time

IluvInd123
on January 22, 2013, 12:14 GMT

@yorkshiregenius : Same question to u Mr. Genius. Wat's the difference b/w Afghan & ur team? Both never won World Cup and Ind did it twice and other countries playing cric considerable amt of time have won. Lol... No hard feelings plz ....

yorkshiregenius
on January 22, 2013, 8:58 GMT

@MAR00N5: It doesn't matter if you can't win test matches but your comments like "who cares about Test cricket" make me feel like why you guys still play any form of cricket. If you don't play test matches then what's the difference between your team and Afghanistan cricket team? Because both teams win couple of ODIs once in a blue moon in between numerous series defeats...ROFLOL

30-30-150
on January 22, 2013, 8:29 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy.. England may be a better Test team than India but who cares about Test cricket? Us Indians treat Test cricket just like how you English treat limited-overs, i.e, we don't care. The turn-out at the stadiums during Test matches in India justifies the fact. Anyhow Test cricket is gonna die out, ODIs and T20s will stay for a very long time and we are the kings of these formats.

Fast_Track_Bully
on January 22, 2013, 7:14 GMT

@EnglishCricket. Yes. It should be England who lost 12 out of 13 games played in India. nice joke. First achieve something by beating others. At least we were able to hold test no:1 for more than 1 year. You will tell WC too will be given to Engalnd as you started playing it early. lol

kristee
on January 22, 2013, 0:46 GMT

Only WI and Oz have ever been WCs that looked like ones. 83, 92 and 96 ones at least can claim they were crowned only because they played better cricket when it mattered. 11 one looked rather manufactured and so their debacles in Eng and Oz made them look a bit more awkward. Here's a tournament that had ensured a team played at home irrespective of the situation, BD of course being an 'exception'. The home jinx is a ridiculous theory as no champion team ever played at home in WC history.

EnglishCricket
on January 21, 2013, 23:36 GMT

These ranking system is a joke! India are NOT world number 1 in ODIs, they have only played far more games than anybody else so its unfair. Belongs to England because they have won more than 80% of their ODI games last year I don't get it.

Harmony111
on January 21, 2013, 22:03 GMT

@Shan156:

Nope, I don't pigeonhole. I had said a significant no of Eng fans, I dint say all or nearly all.

But yes, it is also a fact that I've hardly seen an Eng fan saying unequivocally that all the 3 formats are imp or attractive or need to be respected. Almost every time an Eng fans talks of the 3 formats he talks of Tests as THE and ODIs/T20s as DUH.

Nothing's wrong in having more love for one format. An Engg loves Maths more while a Doctor loves Anatomy more. But imagine an Engg saying Anatomy is a joke or a waste of time etc?

It may surprise you but Ind fans (most) have equal love for the 3 formats. We just love Cricket - any flavor.

Empty stadia means something else: poor timing, bad transport, facilities etc. But they all follow it via TV or radio or something. I've seen the passion in barber shops and markets - be it Tests or ODIs or T20s. Ppl actually stop in their tracks to watch the game for a few minutes and strangers start discussing/arguing.

Harmony111
on January 21, 2013, 21:52 GMT

@cricketsunami: I've been asking Nampally for a few days Pujara in whose place, he says ANYONE from 1-7. But who? He says ANYONE. How cute. He is madly obstinately persistently obsessed with Pujara's debut in ODIs and for him Pujara is the best thing since Atom Bomb and he even sees a future captain in him ( in fact even now). I really hope Pujara is as good as he says him to be. Ind badly needs a top batsman to fill the gap of RD/SRT/VVS.

Dhoni loses a match - He is not picking the right 11 to win matches, why he experiments so much?
Dhoni win a match - He should pick some new players as experiments. Why is he only concerned with winning matches and not building bench strength?

I am telling you, Dhoni is our New Sachin. Some ppl will fault with him no matter what he does. Some ppl still think India failed to win WC 2003 due to Sachin who ("as usual" as per them) failed in the big match.

Do you think these ppl will ever get satisfied?

Temuzin
on January 21, 2013, 20:48 GMT

I was out for a few days and had missed this match. I am reading report and comments now. First of all congrats to India and Dhoni for second win in a row. Great all round performance by the team. A special mention of Jadeja, excellent bowling. Jadeja has started to live up to his potential. It good to know Kohli coming back in to form. And its amazing that NYC-Missile did nor post a single comment on the thread blaming Dhoni for everything. Even though Nampally is still busy criticising him for not including Pujara but he failed to understand you dont change a winning combo for the sake of change. lol

beingsharih
on January 21, 2013, 17:00 GMT

I was there to see my skipper write history. It is a very fabulous stadium.

Shan156
on January 21, 2013, 16:37 GMT

@28041991, we never had a CS, Bedi, Kumble, or Kapil. But, we had Laker, Lock, Underwood, Trueman, Willis and Botham (you wanted an allrounder like Kapil - I gave you someone arguably better than him).

I realize I didn't mention any player from England. That is me acknowledging that we never had any bowler of that class since probably Willis. But, we have had in the past. Greatness is not only determined by # of wickets you have taken but there are other factors also. If you want to talk just # - Trueman took 307 wkts in 67 tests at an avg in the low 20s. Willis took 325 at 25. To put that in perspective, Kumble took his wkts at 29 apiece and Kapil at 28 each.

Shan156
on January 21, 2013, 16:28 GMT

@Harmony111, Fair enough. I can understand why someone could get upset reading some of the comments here; after all, there is a difference between friendly banter and hate-filled derision. Some of the comments here fall in the category of the latter. I didn't expect you to know necessarily that most Eng. fans like all formats. It is easy for anyone to assume that Eng. fans like only tests (and hence dislike other formats) based on some of the comments here and the fact that we accord more importance to tests. There are quite a few Ind. fans who have said tests are boring and ICC should scrap them. They cited the empty stadia in India and SL to prove the waning interest of test cricket. I remember this well because I was involved in that argument too but that was a long time back. I will try to dig it up if and when I have some time.

OzWally
on January 21, 2013, 16:26 GMT

To the majority of posters discussing who is #1, you all sound like my kids arguing over who deserves the preferred spot on the couch. The answer is, who cares.

We have this thing every 4 years called the World Cup. That tells you who is the World Champion for the next 4 years. All the of ODI series in between World Cups mean nothing, no one has to qualify for the next one, nor is anyone left out if their form fails them.

Consequently, many Countries will rest players, try new players, etc. looking forward to the next WC. If ever a day came when on a certain date only the top 4 (or 6) ranked Countries were invited to the next WC, then I would care where my side was ranked.

I remember Aus playing a series in NZ before the 2007 WC and were swept. They then went directly to the WC and won their 3rd in a row. Anybody care what happened in NZ after that?

OzWally
on January 21, 2013, 16:06 GMT

@Harmony111 - Here, here. Excellent comments to the haters who either can't comprehend points, or are too hot-headed to think clearly. We don't always agree, but at least we can have a civilized discussion.

And to reiterate, I personally wasn't trying to rate 1 form of cricket above any other, my point was that I believe some Countries do based on their strengths (at a given time) and how they wish to build for the future.

kristee
on January 21, 2013, 13:02 GMT

If SA is spared by these fanatics, that's solely because they are yet to receive a 0-4 thrashing or home loss to them. You can see the pattern would suddenly change when that happens. No country is exception to this tendency, but the sheer number and the illiteracy that stand some apart are a bit too noticeable to overlook. You are greeted by abuses when you pass even decent comments criticizing them in relevant FB pages, where editing mechanism is naturally missing.

on January 21, 2013, 12:59 GMT

I appreciate India for securing victories in 2 ODIs and stay ahead in the series. Unlike in the past they should go for the kill at Mohali to secure a series win. I think the time has come to have a real test side, separated from the ODIs and T20s. In order to attract players for dedicated commitment to play only in tests, there should be sufficient remuneration for them in place. It is like not mixing 100 metres with marathon races. Once it is done with clarity, India can survive as a good test playing nation. Class is always permanent and it should't be sacrificed for entertainment.

cricketcarl
on January 21, 2013, 11:50 GMT

test cricket is on the way out people, u know why? because its no longer a contest between batsman and bowler, think boycott facing lillee, waugh facing ambrose, its a contest between batsman and mind. if a batsmen these days wants to score a double centrury, quite often the only thing stopping him is his self discipline and fatigue, and the only thing stopping a double century every single team innings is the 20/20 hurry up mindset.
lack of patience, mind on the money. yes test cricket is ruined. oh well, it was good while it lasted. it would take a world 11 to put together a top quality bowling attack these days, so much dead wood rolling their arm over, serving up garbage, most dismissals these days are from the batsmens lack of concentration, most bowlers in test cricket are probly still wondering how on earth they got to test level, luckily for them, we are so engrossed in 20/20 that we dont hav the brainspace to even think about it. oh 6 more, yaaayy.

Harmony111
on January 21, 2013, 9:10 GMT

@Shan156:

Did you not read me saying this the last time too? I don't start the fire, I only react when someone gets too nasty. Almost always I begin with a congratulatory message in an article but soon someone or the other has to say something that completely rips the rooftop apart. And I don't agree with some Ind fans who want me to ignore such ppl or to be gentle with them, I gotta deal with them in their style, though I almost always try to be logical and objective - the tone may be hard. KiwiRocker is one prime example - he just says rubbish things, never proves them and then moves to some other page - classic troll.

I recall only Cpt.Meanster as the Ind who says he doesn't like Tests. Actually, what he says is that Tests are passe and don't have a scope now (not necessarily that HE dislikes tests but that he sees the future).

I got to take what Eng fans say explicitly, I can't assume what you implicitly like or dislike. The explicit Eng voice says Tests Only. I like them all.

realfan
on January 21, 2013, 6:47 GMT

@Shan156

agree that anderon is better in test against india than zaheer against england.. but the point now is is he good in odi's .... naaaah...ander son,s average against india in odi's is 43+.... he is made for tests and only for tests.....
of course india dont have any bowlers mentioned above.... did you at any stage had Chandrashekar, bedi, kumble, any alrounder like kapil dhev?

and you dont even have any player from england in top ten wicket takers in tests.... india hav 3 of them....and none of the players you mentioned above are from england......

Shan156
on January 21, 2013, 6:14 GMT

@Harmony111, Glad that your reply is a lot toned down than what I expected based on past experience:-) Anyway, I would like to clear one thing from my side as well. Just like you, I too believe that each format requires a different skill set and respect all formats. Although, I personally value test wins more than ODI/T20I wins. That is just me. That doesn't mean ODI and T20I wins carry no value. You say significant # of Eng fans - I could say the same thing about Ind. fans who think lowly of tests. I know a lot of like-minded Eng. fans. Of course, there are fans that match your description too. Perhaps comments from these fans are the ones that catch your attention more and hence you tend to pigeonhole all Eng. fans. Re: your comments on SA fans, got to admit. It is a fact. They have been very humble.

Harmony111
on January 21, 2013, 5:19 GMT

@Shan156:

You tend to read things in my comments which I never say or imply. I've never never never said that Tests are inferior or don't matter. I don't see cricket that way. On another forum I had a small thing with OzWally that all formats of cricket are diff but no one is lesser. Like French Open vs Wimbledon or 100 mt vs 10,000 mt. All the formats test diff but relates skills of players.

Having cleared this up, let's talk of Eng's T20 win. By the admission of a sig. #of fans, For Eng tests are primary, ODIs lesser and T20s are like a joke. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Thus, WT20 win can't be used by Eng as a notable thing when they hardly count T20 as a nice format. If I am counting my riches I won't count my junk canister as my treasure, will I?

Additionally, I am yet to see a single SA fan brag even a tiny bit about their team. Nary. Nor have I seen a single SA fan make fun of other teams or call others as minnows (Ref Yorkshiregenius).

So SA get a discount :-p

Shan156
on January 21, 2013, 3:26 GMT

@Harmony111, surely you would know that it was your comment that I referenced. Besides, I wasn't replying only to you. Many Ind. fans have slated Eng. for not winning the WC; yet they don't use that argument against SA. Yes, some of the comments here are ridiculous and silly and I have no problems with anyone replying to it in any style they choose. However, why not use the same standards for everyone? According to you, England have not won a ODI world cup which in other words means they have not won anything of note. SA haven't won a ODI or T20 world cup either which surely means they also have not won anything of note, no? I admit that you have not said anywhere that Ind. are better than Eng. in tests but then you also say that Eng. have not won anything of note. If you don't take tests seriously and judge a team only by success in ODI tournaments, then good for you; I wouldn't have anything to say. But then, you also quote SA's success in tests. I'm confused.

Shan156
on January 21, 2013, 3:16 GMT

@JG2704, some of the comments I read from Indian fans about Anderson are absolute gems. They think so lowly of him that one wonders if he is such a poor bowler, India's pace cupboard must be overflowing with Waqars, Wasims, Marshalls, Holdings, Hadlees, and McGraths. Unfortunately, that is not the case. They have a point though. Jimmy, after all, has dismissed only "ordinary" batsmen like Sachin many times. He has a poor record in India - he averages under 30 in 7 tests. Never mind the fact that Zaheer averages over 35. Granted Zaheer has played a lot of tests and it is quite possible that Jimmy's average in India might be worse had he played more tests. But, we have never said Zaheer is a poor bowler.

Shan156
on January 21, 2013, 3:06 GMT

"As I always say England should stop playing cricket"

@5udh33r, what an insightful comment? Pat yourself on the back. Deserves to be in the featured comments section. Tell you what, let's make it a front page article instead. It is dripping with so much information.

Now, England should stop playing cricket because they lost 2 ODIs against India. But, they beat India in the test series and also tied the T20I series and even won the 1st ODI. So, that means India should also stop playing cricket. Who else could play? Should SA play? Even they lost an ODI to lowly NZ, so obviously the answer is no. Aus.? Definitely no, they were bowled out for 74 just few days back. SL? Lost 1-4 to India, so, no, no. Now, with your infinite wisdom, please enlighten us who should and should not play. Cricket is already a sport played by a handful of countries. It cannot afford to lose more nations.

Eat_Sleep_Play_Cricket
on January 21, 2013, 2:34 GMT

I think it is too hard a pill to swallow for some fans when India become #1 in ODI. India has 3 worldcups and its been long due to hold the #1 spot unlike some teams who have never won a world cup. I'm sure TEAM India is only going to get better from here and next two games will witness India Batting power. If Rahane and Gambir can come good than 350+ is very much on the cards. Bhuvi , Shami and Ishant looking good as well as Jadeja and Ashwin. Go India GO! #1 ODI team in the world.

kristee
on January 21, 2013, 2:28 GMT

Citing some odd decisions here and there, some people try to downplay the preponderance of them in favor of their favorites. Decisions involving impact players like KP, Warner or Dhoni tend to affect the outcome of a game so drastically. Woakes might have looked a different bowler, if he had survived Dhoni's clever pretense. And Sharma too if KP had, his query. Leaving players like Warner or KP to some mediocre umpires' mercy is a crime against the cricket community. It doesn't stop to be so, only because some fanatics fancy otherwise.

realfan
on January 21, 2013, 2:17 GMT

@pakistan_victorious
perhaps you should check how many medals pakistan got in olympic.... and oh leaving india.... atleast we welcome those who come to india with good hospitality... look how you welcome srilanka players when they came to your nation.... there after even you are afraid to play in you nation . and that y you are arranging games in UAE.....

cricinfo publish

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 23:31 GMT

@KiwiRocker: What happened lad? Trying to make any more ridiculous allegations against Ind or BCCI? Or are you once again going to use the same old "Pak won so many ODIs vs India" argument?

Pak won the WC 1992 but Ind beat Pak then.
Pak won the Asia Cup 2012 but Ind beat Pak there too.

So, what exactly is it that makes you jump so much?

Wanna talk of that Miandand 6 huh?

Our off spinner Rajesh Chauhan avenged it long time back by hitting your Saqlain right in your home for a 6. Bhajji hit your Shoaib for a massive 6 in SL too.

And last and the greatest - remember the 6 Sachin tonked off your so called Rawalpindi Express Shoaib? They say it went twice as quick over the ropes as it came towards Sachin.

Tch Tch - poor KiwiRocker is out of any more things to say. After all, just how much can you twist a tiny piece of thread to brag?

And oh, btw, congrats for your 1st ever comment on a NZ article.

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 23:00 GMT

@Shan156:

If you quote me at least do it by naming me, why talk tangentially?

And the fact is, Eng's WC record is shown out by Ind fans cos when Ind win an ODI or an ODI series or anything such some or the other Eng fan come here and says that Oh it was WC at home OR no matter how much Ind may win against Eng in ODIs they defeated Ind 4-0 in Tests blah blah blah. So if Test record can be used as an argument against Ind's win over Eng in an ODI surely it is more natural that Ind fans use Ind's WC record as a better argument when the context is ODIs.

For eg, you can see here that yorkshiregenius & others called Ind minnows even though Ind are WC and #1 simultaneously. If that is not an uninformed, lowly, downright pathetic comment then I don't know what is. After that if I get bitter then why should I be blamed?

Before you pick on me, I dare you to find 1 single comment of mine where I've said Ind are better than Eng in Tests as of now or that Eng did not deserve to win the Tests.

Hash_Tag
on January 20, 2013, 21:58 GMT

@spiritwithin on (January 20 2013, 14:55 PM GMT) Bro I agree with you very well said "now stop fighting and try to be honest". I don't know why Pakistan fans have come here. They played well in the ODIs here - sure and well done they had the bowlers to undo us, so I agree with that too. However, Pakistan were themselves undone in their home by England bowlers in a surprising performance by them. So even though I respect the Pakistanis I really do not know why there are here on this forum.

JG2704
on January 20, 2013, 21:30 GMT

@ Shan156 on (January 20 2013, 19:47 PM GMT) It's very much a case of double standards. When ESPN put their teams of the year up Jimmy's name was one of the prime names mentioned as joke selections. It showed a couple of stats - I think it was the average and the wickets taken and as someone pointed out they were better than Steyn's. Of course no one questioned Steyn's inclusion.

Drsriuk
on January 20, 2013, 21:24 GMT

Fantastic back to back victories. Hats off to mahi and inspired younger colleagues
Can't wait for Wednesday's match

gsingh7
on January 20, 2013, 20:37 GMT

@ shan- its a fact no one can deny it , england have 0 wc wins also india is no.1 in odis and current world cup holders and world champions

5udh33r
on January 20, 2013, 20:04 GMT

As I always say England should stop playing cricket.India should get rid of Gambir and Ashwin.. Put this under featured comment!!!

Shan156
on January 20, 2013, 19:47 GMT

"also have the envious record of having won series in Eng/Aus/Ind in the last 7-8 years"

again, wrong facts. The last time SA won a series in India was in 1999-2000. That was more than 8 years before. No doubt that SA are the #1 team now. But, Indian fans are quick to point out that no matter what Eng. do in tests, they have never won a ODI world cup and hence they are a hopeless team. Shouldn't the same standard be applied to SA as well? After all, Eng. have managed to play in 3 WC finals and won one T20 world cup. SA have neither although they did win one ICCCT.

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 18:58 GMT

Well, ppl no need to start picking on SA here just cos some Albert starts calling India or Eng as minnow or SA as the real #1. We all know that SA have been #1 in Tests/ODI and T20s at some point in the last 8-10 months and also have the envious record of having won series in Eng/Aus/Ind in the last 7-8 years. In fact SA have won test series in Eng and Aus twice each in the last 4-5 years. This by any means is impressive. They defeated the then #1 Eng at home 2-0 including the 1st test that had one of the most astounding defeats of all time inflicted on Eng.

Those who are regular here may have noticed that I have been quite vocal & scathing against Eng/Aus/SL but they would've never seen me saying anything against SA/NZ/WI.

The reason is that SA, even after their top class performances have been really really grounded and I've never seen their players or fans making any brouhaha about their record. Same for NZ/WI. Thus, let's not call SA any names. They are a Top & Gentle Lot.

warneneverchuck
on January 20, 2013, 18:35 GMT

@ albert SA no. 1. Have they ever played a WC final. Nothing more than an ordinary team

rsurya
on January 20, 2013, 17:51 GMT

These Wins shadowed Ishanth Sharma the weakest link.

azurecharms
on January 20, 2013, 17:41 GMT

Finally home turfs decided to come to the rescue of Indian demigods. Pak should had given them 3 nil thrashing but they got cold feet and thought enough dribbing to indies, lets dish 'em one victory!

Shan156
on January 20, 2013, 17:09 GMT

@spiritwithin, I agree that Zaheer hasn't been the same since the ODI WC. I think fitness has been the issue but if he regains full fitness, he can be the bowler he was in the 4 years preceding the 2011 WC. Even in Eng., he started well before he got injured. I think he probably took it easy after the WC win but he is still one of India's best pace bowlers. His experience will be valuable in SA. It might be daunting for the new breed of pacemen to face the best team in the world in their backyard and they need a senior like Zaheer to guide them.

on January 20, 2013, 16:57 GMT

@Albert Cambell : lol what a joke. south africa no.1 ? both south africa and england are pathetic in ODI cricket. south africa hasnt even won a worldcup. you call them no.1 on what basis ? India is truely deserving no.1 in ODI's and south africa rightly so in Tests.

warneneverchuck
on January 20, 2013, 16:49 GMT

Well done India. Let the looser say whatever they want. U r the only subcontinent team do so achieving number 1 in both forms of game

Desisd
on January 20, 2013, 16:46 GMT

Why England thrashing is so surprising? England has now lost 19 out of 21 recent matches.

Albert_cambell
on January 20, 2013, 16:39 GMT

Kohli must be happy now. Because he got his average up after scoring a 71 notout on this flat pitch. It will go down after the 4th and 5th ODI.

Albert_cambell
on January 20, 2013, 16:26 GMT

Real Number 1 team is SA. Not these overrated minnows, who only wins matches in flat tracks.

Albert_cambell
on January 20, 2013, 16:23 GMT

What happening in cricket now adays. Minnow teams are taking upset series wins over top teams. Recently we saw Bangladesh winning the ODI series against WI. Now india won two back to back ODIs against England. Anyways upsets do happen in cricket.!!

Sports4Youth
on January 20, 2013, 15:55 GMT

Failure of the English bowlers and Batsmen on Indian pitches was expected. The only thng that I did not expect was that Jadeja will be more effective than Ashwin. I think Ashwin is trying too hard. He should take it easy. In my view he is definately a better bowler than what the wickets column is showing right now. And he is definately a better bowler than Jadeja. I think this is a healthy competition going on between Jadeja & Ashwin that at times Jadeja is bowling better than Ashwin and Ashwin is batting better than Jadeja.

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 15:53 GMT

@mazii:

And when did we claim that Mohanty, Nehra etc are GREAT bowlers or World's best bowlers? Ind fans are not in the habit of making such premature statements. It is fashionable in Pakistan that the moment they see anyone they label him as Great or World's Best. Right here in the 2nd line of your last comment you you called Junaid as World Best fast bowler when he has played a handful of matches only. In fact, even Amir, Asif & Shoaib were never ever World's Best Fast bowlers. They were good and posed a challenge but they never were seen as World's Best. Do you ppl even know what World's Best means? J Khan is good but miles away from being World's Best as of now.

The ball that Bhuvnesh bowled to Hafiz is something Pak bowlers can only dream of. Kohli tore your Amal & Gul in Asia Cup, Viru ripped Gul apart in WC SF by hitting him for 4 after 4, Sachin cleaned you Wasim, Waqar & Shoaib all in one day, Ross smashed you all for 100 runs in 5 overs in WC - But Pak has Great bowlers.

deepmidwicket88
on January 20, 2013, 15:47 GMT

india keep it up.. save your houses...

JG2704
on January 20, 2013, 15:43 GMT

@R_U_4_REAL_NICK on (January 20 2013, 12:50 PM GMT) I totally agree . The one sad thing is that going at 7 an over would probably be a better economy rate than 2 of the other 3 pacers - that is presuming the selectors don't try a different approach

30-30-150
on January 20, 2013, 15:35 GMT

@KiwiRocker- "Rana Naveed is MVP" What a joke! He wasn't even offered a BBL contract this year!! Guess why? His economy rate was 9 in the Friends Life t20 :D

Wahab Riaz? The same guy who went for 50 runs in 4 overs in the Asia Cup match? Hahaha. Kohli just destroyed the poor guy's career. I think he was hit for 4 consecutive boundaries at the end by Kohli. What an overhyped bowler.. :P (Cricinfo publish?)

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 15:28 GMT

@KiwiRocker:

It is clear you are desperate here cos no where in my comments have I even mentioned Wahab Riaz or Rana Naved Ul Hussain. I had asked about Mohd Sammi only....

But now that you reminded me about these ppl, tell me what happened to them? They too were your next big things 5-6 yrs back just like Junaid Kahn & Mohd Irfan are your next big things in 2013. Where are Wahab Riaz & Rana? What happened to them?

You see, Pak fans like you have a habit of proclaiming any new young fast bowler as the next Wasim or next Waqar and that paints the impression that Pakistan got a factory of fast bowlers who come straight from gully cricket.

In a way it is true cos they are indeed no better than India's gully players and once your Riaz & Sammi get exposed they go right back to their streets. Same will happen to Junaid Khan too.

Riaz took 5 w in WC SF but it was India who won the match lol lol.
Rana MVP in BBL - So that makes him the next big thing?

Yousufahmedl
on January 20, 2013, 15:25 GMT

@cool2cool, England never forced anyone to move to England. People are happy to move to England to live a good life. Many are eager to leave India indeed and for a land of 1 billion people, India is pathetic in sports. England never begged KP and Trott to move to England as they did it happily.

I_Perfectionist
on January 20, 2013, 15:17 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy - Dude, this case China should be the world champions. Once you can't import South Africans anymore, you will go be back to where you were.

Hindh
on January 20, 2013, 15:13 GMT

@redanwhitearmy India are 8 time Olympic gold winners in hockey more than anybody else and a WC hockey win in 1975 to go with it.....

realfan
on January 20, 2013, 15:11 GMT

@cool2cool

you literally nailed it bro.... i was just about to type those....

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 15:09 GMT

@KiwiRocker: Err, sorry dear but what matters most is 8-0 that Ind has done to Pak in WCs. That is 5-0 in ODI WCs and 3-0 in T20 WCs (or WT20 if you are pedantic).

5-0 is such a huge lead that by most means it will be 2035 at least before Pak can even draw level there (i.e if Ind lose all the WC matches to Pak till 2035).

2035 is 23 years away .... Imagine. Ind has a 23 years lead over Pak in WCs !!!

You can cry and shout and jump as much as you want but you would have to better than this for the next 23 yrs JUST TO DRAW LEVEL TO IND IN WCs...

This 8-0, my dear, is WHAT MATTERS MOST, not a hurriedly org ODI series where you played a tired Ind team.

You keep bringing out your ODI lead and we will keep showing you the 8 times we've smashed you in the WCs.

And btw, do you know we had toyed with you in the Mini World Cup in 1985 too? We literally thrashed you there by 8 wickets. So that makes it 9-0 actually.

Face it, in matches that matter Pak holds an empty bucket to Ind.

CandidIndian
on January 20, 2013, 15:06 GMT

India Pak debate started again.Just want to present some facts.Yes Pakistan have dominated India in 90s and by some distance.However recent stats that is from year 2000 shows that India and Pak have played 12 tests ,India have won 4 and Pakistan 3, in ODIs 46 matches were played in same period and Pak won 24 while India won 22.So that's hardly a domination for either side.In same period Indian managed to win test series in Eng and WI(twice) while Pakistan failed to do so.In ODIs India won Natwest series in Eng, CB series in Aus and WC,Pakistan could not.This is about India.Now for Pakistan they have been much more consistent in ICC tournaments than India.They managed to whitewash same Eng side who has beaten India home and away. Recently they have beaten India in ODIs which only Aussies managed in last 12 yrs.Presently they are better side us , we gracefully accept that, however calling India minnows is unfair and biased,as such comments are not based on facts but on hatred.

Yousufahmedl
on January 20, 2013, 15:06 GMT

@cool2cool, then why does BCCI oppose DRS when they go away and when teams like Australia, England and South Africa are willing to pay for it?? LOL

Not just that we are well off to pay for DRS and that was why we had hot spot when we played against England in UAE. Your cowardly cricket board does not want it BECAUSE YOU ALL DEPEND ON UMPIRES FOR SUCCESS! When any team plays India it is 11 versus 13 cos umpires are under pressure to be Indian puppets.

spiritwithin
on January 20, 2013, 14:55 GMT

lol ppl r still fighting in this thread,india won the last two match and leading 2-1,just accept that eng played better in the first match whereas india played better overall in 2nd & 3rd match..had the fans accepted that simple fact there wud'nt have been so much fight..and btw y some pak fans r talking about pak bowlers in this thread??even though i m an indian fan but i dont feel ashamed to say that england r a far better test team than all subcontinent teams in most places,some may argue eng lost 0-3 in UAE but hey i m very sure eng can beat the hell out of pak or india in most places,there bowling is far superior...now stop fighting and try to be honest

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 14:34 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy: Just for your info, India has world champion boxers, world champion Chess player, world champion archer, world champion shooter, world champion badminton player, world champion body builder and many more. And interestingly none of them are imports. Hopefully you wouldn't say that these are not sports.

bearface
on January 20, 2013, 14:27 GMT

morale boosting win for the Indians and a really poor performance from England they are a better side than this.

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 14:26 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy: Your team really played well to win the ashes 3-1, but what happened in ODIs 6-1 right? How did your team performed during previous tours to Aus, 5-0 and 4-1 in tests right?

Front-Foot-Lunge
on January 20, 2013, 13:53 GMT

What's all this rubbish about Junaid Khan. Junaid Who? LOL, English fans must be loving this- we have the established master of both flat-decks and green tops in Jimmy Anderson. When you've got no one close to that like Pakistan, it's time to suck it up and wait until he's got 300 test wickets before sharing your fantasy world with the rest of us.

RednWhiteArmy
on January 20, 2013, 13:46 GMT

@Sathish.Velu There was me thinking we just beat you 6-1 in tests after beating the aussies 3-1 in australia. How did India go in australia? Oh thats right, the same as they did in England. Whoops. @Cool2Cool Cmon, Hockey? is that even a real sport?

Manu_reddy
on January 20, 2013, 13:30 GMT

Some of d pak fans already rating junaid in d level of akram,well come on man it took almost 10 years for akram to become a masterclass bowler but ur junaid has played only few matches but u people r rating him so high..lol..
What abt mitchell starc mate,where ll u rate him?...

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 13:12 GMT

@mazii: You call India 2-1 as thrashing when your captain admitted that they were very lucky to win the toss in the first match. Did you forget your 4-0 loss to same England team lat year? Ok you made it to SF of T-20 WC but what happened after? OK India didn't made it to finals of Asia cup, but did you forget what happened to you against India in the same tournament?

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 13:05 GMT

@mazii: Overall Pak dominates India, but where it matters the most, India leads 8-0 in WC (5 in 50-50, 3 in T-20). What about that?

Sathish.Velu
on January 20, 2013, 13:05 GMT

@RednWhitearmy, England cricket team is nothing but all time greats in getting drubbed by aussies, indians and pakis, even irish and bangladeshis humiliated them, just missed the chance to get drubbed by afghans in t20 world cup

Rahmanklp
on January 20, 2013, 13:04 GMT

Congrats team India..... Someone questioning MSD's captaincy, but i think he is the best captain of india till the date. Good to see our bowlers did the job well. MSD is the best ODI batsmen averaging 52 above. I suggest a playing 11 for the next match is, 1.Gambir,2.Pujara,3.Kohli,4.Yuvraj,5.Dhoni(C&wk),6.Raina7.Jadeja,8.Ashwin,9.Bhuvaneshwar,10. Dinda,11.Ahmad. Reason for rahane out he continued failed & ishanth sharma for poor bowling, he get wicket of pieterson in last game is luck, the ball did not get in the bat.

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 13:01 GMT

@mazii: BCCI is not against DRS but they think that the money spent on the DRS is not that worth. If you or your board can sponsor it, BCCI will happily accept it.

Sathish.Velu
on January 20, 2013, 13:00 GMT

@mazii, we never was a strong bowling unit, why are you asking for our bowlers, please tell where is your so called world class bowlers imran, wasim, akthar sami, waqar, amir, asif, what is the use of having that many world class bowlers, have you ever dominated world cricket, have your gained atleast no 2 spot, ha , think before you comment

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 12:58 GMT

@mazii: I totally agree with you that Pak has always produced much much better bowlers than India. But one thing all Indian bowlers can say that they are honest to the game. Can your bowlers/players(Amir, Asif ...) say that?

R_U_4_REAL_NICK
on January 20, 2013, 12:50 GMT

The fantastic news for England fans is that Stuart Broad couldn't make it to India in time because of the snow in UK. At least the England selectors can't make the silly, embarrassing decision to add him into the team now - where he'd bowl his usual short-pitched rubbish and go for 7 an over.

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 12:49 GMT

@Hammond: So you agree with me that even after playing for so many years, they have achieved nothing.

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 12:39 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy: Playing for so many years, main preference is tests where stayed on the top for hardly 1 year, not many originals, lots of imports. Well done!
BTW India's national game is Hockey, check before commenting.

mazii
on January 20, 2013, 12:36 GMT

28041991... Then why India against DRS? No ifs and buts. This is a game of cricket and DRS is here to use. Isn't it? Had you noticed some wrong decision against Pakistan in the third ODI? I can say it would have been 3-0 and not 2-1 but not Pakistan lost third ODI fair and square.

mazii
on January 20, 2013, 12:31 GMT

Mr.harmony111... Where are your mohanties, Nehra, R.p singh and P. kumar. Not to mention about sreesanth and other such alike. Pakistan produced some World's best fast bowlers and keep producing it. Amir, Asif, Akhtar and now Junaid. One thing is certain that Indian fast bowlers first bowls at 140 then their speed drastically reduced to 130. Why that happens Mr.harmony. By this standard B. kumar will bowl at around about 120. Isn't it like that. I respect SRT, Dravid and Laxman because they were the ones responsible for home and away wins. Now they are gone and the World will never witness another SRT and dravid again. Now what India have got in their batting department. Now you've to realize that SRT type batsmen cannot be reproduced. Well Kohli has already been exposed by Junaid. And I don't see any real talent against moving ball in this present Indian outfit. Pakistan keep producing quality Fast bowlers while India will never witness SRT caliber talent again. This is for sure

RednWhiteArmy
on January 20, 2013, 12:19 GMT

@cool2cool 1 national sport, 1.2billion people, 2 cricket world cups & nothing in any other sport. Well done!

bobmartin
on January 20, 2013, 12:15 GMT

Posted by JG2704 on (January 20 2013, 10:49 AM GMT) "We'll keep on doing the same and losing more matches while we do so." 100% correct.. A wise old man once said, "Why keep doing the same thing and expect a different result" We have reserves, why are they there if not to replace injuries and/or failures. Or are they simply very expensive drinks carriers ? Get rid of your tunnel vision Mr Giles..

mazii
on January 20, 2013, 12:12 GMT

kiwirocker.... you nailed it bro. Let's see what my Harmony111 says on this. India didn't reach even in the finals against Australia in CB series. India couldn't able to reach in the final of Asia cup. India couldn't make it to the semis of t20 cup. India thrashed by England and Australia 8-0, albeit when they had SRT, Dravid and Laxman. India was thrashed again by England 2-1 in their own home. And then comes Pakistan's thrashing to India 2-1. If this side is touted as the best side then what to say about Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe? One thing is clear that mr.harmony will come either with more irrationalities or some very emotional responses. He doesn't see Pakistan's thrashings, he just sees India's win in a dead rubber match and comes up with more ifs and buts. Cheers and take some time off to rethink Mr. Harmony.

realfan
on January 20, 2013, 11:55 GMT

@PkZindabaad
ahh here comes the ultimate predictor.... first of all next world cup is in 2015 not 2014....
and i agree pakisthan have good bowling attack... mind you mate... only bowling wont help winnig matches . you must look at your batting.... exept nasir jamshed who is good uptil now i can see nobody who is going to be effective in worldcup that will be played in australia... after all you couldnt win worldcup match in india against this weak bowling attack of india ... how can you think pakistan will win in australia.....

Hammond
on January 20, 2013, 11:54 GMT

@cool2cool- check out Stats guru. Just type in "England", but just remember to be surprised, they've been playing international cricket for much longer than you think.

realfan
on January 20, 2013, 11:40 GMT

@KiwiRocker
you shoul probably look at how JAMSHED was given not out while caught at slip in the first match... if that was given out , i see no reason for pakisthan to win that first match... hence eventually they would have lost the series.....silly you.....

realfan
on January 20, 2013, 11:29 GMT

@vrkp
comparing BELL to KOHLI ? rediculos isnt it... Kohli is way better and dependebla than bell .... and comparing cook to gambir is hilarious.... cook to far ahed of gambir even though he has played less matches.... and ya Kiesweter to Dhoni????? are you serious?????

Sathish.Velu
on January 20, 2013, 11:26 GMT

@rednwhitearmy, please somebody remind him, about what happened to eng in the last 23 matches played in india,and also pls remind him the 5-0 drubbing eng got in the last outing, the real big shame, is you cant even play jadeja, and you guys are big mouthing here, probavly I m a little guy, mr rednwhiearmy old poor fella

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 11:24 GMT

@Hammond: But you have not answered me yet, what has your "United 11" achieved ?

JG2704
on January 20, 2013, 11:11 GMT

@yorkshiregenius on (January 19 2013, 20:38 PM GMT) Whatever you think of these posters , no need to resort to similar comms. India are a very impressive shorter formats side esp on their own turf and while in Eng tests are more important , in India you'll prob find it is the other way round

@Mitty2 on (January 19 2013, 22:17 PM GMT) If you're talking this format only then our ODI form has been excellent prior to this series - even in 2012 when our test form wasn't so hot. Our bowling seems to have gone downhill in shorter formats , esp in SC. And re it being a full strength line up - not quite true although most of our batsmen are there so few excuses for our batting failures. Now when you start citing Tredwell's figures I know you are just digging for digging sake.

JG2704
on January 20, 2013, 11:10 GMT

@CandidIndian - Hi bud-not so concerned re form but wish we'd try different things this series.Half the time we seem to be waiting for things to happen which IMO was part reason for our test failures last year.Swann is huge ,Jimmy is prob the best pacer but re the others I'm not so sure

@Cpt.Meanster- Disagree re Wright.Our best batsman in T20WC and believe he could do a job inODIs.Also adds a bowling option to the side.Pace generally isnt working for us so if Wright was in there we could have another spinner in the side and Wright as a med/fast option.Buttler should be in but he's the only other batsman we have in the squad

@itsthewayuplay- TBH only saw a little of the game-it was demoralising to watch-but Bumble criticised Cook for not attacking enough with field settings and he's right.The ONLY way we defend such a low total is have more men close in stopping the single singles etc.Re short pitch stuff trouble is I think we overtried that and it cost us runs in the 2nd ODI

jmcilhinney
on January 20, 2013, 10:59 GMT

@Venkat_Super_11 on (January 20 2013, 09:51 AM GMT), I agree that confidence is a big factor. There's been a lot of talk about England's issues in subcontinent conditions and against spin and I think that they have definitely let it get under their skin. The odd ball kept a bit low but there were no demons in that Ranchi pitch. The ball didn't do a great deal for seamers or spinners so England should have been able to score more, as they have done at home and elsewhere. They really just seem to have psyched themselves out. The thing is, if they haven't gained some confidence from their first-game win and the Test series before it then what will it take? While winning one game is an improvement over previous tours, it is a small step forward if they play the next two games as they have the last two. Even if they don't win, they need to put in improved performances with bat and ball in the remaining two games to be able to go home feeling that they have taken a step forward.

JG2704
on January 20, 2013, 10:49 GMT

@Shan156 on (January 20 2013, 02:58 AM GMT) I saw Meaker in a recent shorter formats outing and he didn't look particularly impressive. To me that's just a sideways step. I just don't see it as coincidence that our pacers (ex Finn who is also sometimes expensive) are always going for more runs than the spinners. To me it's the same as the balance in the test side. We'll keep on doing the same and losing more matches while we do so. To me , if we try the extra spinner and even in the powerplays and it fails then we're no worse off than we are now. Pakistan have - with success - gone in with just 1 paceman . I know we don't have the quality Pak have in the spin dept but surely 2 pacemen is ample in SC conditions. To me , it's better to try different formulas to stop the rot than stick with same thing. I know this is just the 2nd defeat but it's the second huge defeat. I and others have said the same when we were winning.

JG2704
on January 20, 2013, 10:48 GMT

re having Trott in the side and how much of a difference he'd make - I say no unless you are prepared to drop Bell or Cook.2 accumulators is plenty in this fmt and while I certainly don't blame Bell/Cook for this defeat,I believe we were 30 odd after the 1st powerplay overs.If Bell and/or Cook went on to score big then fair enough but when they both get out just before/after they start accelerating I feel it puts too much emphasis on the batsmen behind them to make up for the poor initial SR.With Trott in the side it becomes worse and I think we'd be 3-0 down had Trott played in the 1st game.We could try (don't want to sound panicky after Bell and Cook's efforts prior to this game) is KP opning with Cook and have Bell as a floater.If KP gets out Morgan comes in,if Cook gets out Bell comes in.Also I wish that in the beginning overs Eng would learn to look for the singles more. I know Gambhir gets much flack but in the T20s I liked the he'd drop the ball at his feet for quick singles

Hammond
on January 20, 2013, 10:47 GMT

@cool2cool- can't argue with you, you obviously believe that international cricket started in the 1980's.

PkZindabaad
on January 20, 2013, 10:20 GMT

india and srilanka have the mediocre bowling in the world. kulasekar has bowled well recently not were close to junaid khan. India may be the current worldcup champions but pak will win 2014 worldcup as no other teams can challenge us apart from south africa. pakistan zindabad..!!!!

Venkat_Super_11
on January 20, 2013, 9:51 GMT

There's nothing to talk ill of England's performance--it's just their low-confidence and nothing else. I am sure they will come back much stronger in the next game and all that they need is confidence. When they were able to defeat India comprehensively in the test matches, their return to glory is not far away. No doubt, every player in the Indian team contributed to India's victory (and I am very happy about it) and this is where England were outplayed. England top order and generally stronger middle order failed to click last two matches and that's the reason for their defeat. Come on England, you can do it. I am sure you have nothing to prove here but just to shut all ill-spoken mouths, you have to come back stronger in the next two games and win at least one (I want India to win the series though :) game. If the likes of Keiswetter and Morgan put back their complex against spin and back themselves up, India will be the one who will have to the catching-up game.

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 9:31 GMT

@RednWhiteArmy: The biggest failure is to not achieving anything after playing for so many years and wining T-20 WC & hardly one year on top of test ranking with the help of imports.

cool2cool
on January 20, 2013, 9:27 GMT

@yorkshiregenius: Please read my comments again. I am not asking about the failures of "United 11". I am asking is what your "United 11" have achieved after playing for so may years? Only T-20 cup and hardly one year on top of test rankings.
Anything else?

on January 20, 2013, 9:07 GMT

Dhoni's luck is back.....

whofriggincares
on January 20, 2013, 8:58 GMT

Yep 74 all out is embarrassing , the ironic thing is we made a better fist of defending it than England did at defending 157! If not for a dropped dolly and a missed runout we might have even snatched it. Still as I said very embarrassing and worrying. But 28 overs and only 3 down, well that is a belting.Very enjoyable.

cool_sande
on January 20, 2013, 8:54 GMT

I am a Indian fan...But also a KP fan...He should play normal cricket...he is trying to manufacture shots and finding ways to get himself out...And I support DRS except for lbw(can be checked for inside edges not for lb).Its hurting to see a player of his caliber swinging the bat all over the place when he can play proper cricketing shots...

I belive England middle order need some experience. Keiswetter should open,root at 3,kp at 4 and bell at 5....this would bring some balance into the side...

Dernbach is really death bowler who I believe is made for mauled by Ind batsman...

spiritwithin
on January 20, 2013, 8:52 GMT

@Shan156..did u used the word 'ever reliable' for zaheer khan??d u know that he's struggling since 2011??i though agree that B.Kumar and shami ahmed looks a good prospect,but overall india's bowling is still a big problem and our overall batting is also an issue,tbh i m surprised that india is 2-1 up against eng,my prediction before the start of the series was 3-2 to eng,so let see what happens but i m happy too see india winning atleast two game even though they r struggling too much at present

sipunjohn
on January 20, 2013, 8:51 GMT

@kiwi-rocker- well buddy seems to be u hav more interest in indian cricket..first check all your team errors and come .all right buds. indian cricket is the most attracting and powerful cricket team in the world.come on buddy accept it.icc rank proves it.india gonna bash every team now.just wait for your time. lol.......

spiritwithin
on January 20, 2013, 8:40 GMT

@ KiwiRocker..never knew that winning the series by a close 2-1 margin is called as brownwash,henceforth every win be renames as whitewash,blackwash or brownwash,,what a joke..reality is u find it difficult whenever india wins any match and u start showing ur frustration..as far as dhoni is concerned he's always backed as a shorter format captain by all indian fans,its in tests that we dont want him,so dont make up ur own story that we dont want dhoni as captain in ODI's...u remember Kohli's 13 runs against pak last series but forget that he's the highest scorer in ODI's last year and he also scored 183 against pak to win a game in asia cup,stop showing sour grapes and have the courtesy to appreciate a good performance when this struggling team india is doing well when it was not expected...

Harmony111
on January 20, 2013, 8:30 GMT

@Alive2cu:

Obviously you replied to me cos you read my comment on DRS. Surprisingly, you chose to tell me what DRS is when I was talking of easier ways to implement cheaper ways to achieve the same level of assistance. Thanks for telling me what DRS means - now will you please tell me what D/L method is and what Drakensberg's climate is?

RednWhiteArmy
on January 20, 2013, 8:28 GMT

@Sathish.Velu Yea, but for a real proper thrashing look no further than the 4-0 whitewash you copped in England. Your just making yourself look foolish, little man.

SaadRocx
on January 20, 2013, 8:14 GMT

Let the Cook fire for once in the Series..then i'll see how the pathetic bowling line up of India will get XPOSED..

DylanBrah
on January 20, 2013, 7:51 GMT

Boy! I'm impressed! What an absolute beat down. Back to the nets for Cook and friends.

Sathish.Velu
on January 20, 2013, 7:44 GMT

I dont know why England fans are not accepting the fact, the thing happened in the last two odi's is called thrashing, and cricinfo itself clearly stated the thrashing in the heading of the article, so accept the fact, And one. More thing people didnt noticed, England learned to only defend/survive from spin bowling, and they dont know to attack the spin, thats the logic behind England's test wins and odi defeats,

KiwiRocker-
on January 20, 2013, 7:41 GMT

Harry1218: Yes, I have a good interest in Indian cricket as it is all acting and drama! Mate, ICC rankings mean nothing. Australia was ranked ninth in T20 rankings and they ended up in semi final of WC20/20. India so called world champions were booted out of tri series in Australia, did not even reach final of Asia cup and were recently brown washed by Pakistan in India in their own backyard in front of their own umpires. Its all hyped up acting! Indian team is a minnow team and this irrelevnt win against English "A" side only masks India's problems. Reality is that come Champion trophey time, it will come down crashing and again fans like you will be demanding Dhoni's resignation! India may win 4-1 against England..so what? Horse is already bolted! India was brown washed against Pak and England won test series! This is all a premature hype about bunch of medium paces! Many Kumars, Yadevs and Mohanty's have come and gone! Kohli scored a total of 13 runs against Pak.!

DylanBrah
on January 20, 2013, 7:38 GMT

All you pommies need to worry about your own teams performance before commenting on other's.

Thyagu5432
on January 20, 2013, 7:31 GMT

I really have no clue what to make of this situation. England thrash us in the test matches. India barely managed to tie the T20 against England and Pak. Pak thrashed India in ODI and now England getting thrashed by India in ODI. Is India a good team or a bad team? A million dollar question.

Sathish.Velu
on January 20, 2013, 7:30 GMT

@Akshita29, How could you know, whether the decision is right or wrong, after seeing the replays only we can know, its out or not, so still usage of drs will not prevent bad decisions coming out, so if u need perfect decisions for all appeals, why cant you remove ummpires from the field and let the technology umpires the match, you people shout loud for drs, its use is to stop bad decisions, but it is not the complete solution, so why wasting the money in drs, please look for a complete solution to stop bad decisions, and moreover,please stop your kp puraan, its annoying

Harry1218
on January 20, 2013, 6:59 GMT

@ Kiwi_Rocker: strange to see your concern about Indian team, every time I found your comment when Indian team in action. Although it's negative but I appreciate your interest in Indian cricket. As you U feel Indian Team is minnow so why are U waste your time for following them!!! Get life man.

But on the top!!! nobody can denied that Indian team is one of the Best side in world. ICC ranking proved it.

Shan156
on January 20, 2013, 6:55 GMT

@CandidIndian, this team may perform better in Eng. and Aus. but I think they lack the necessary skills to succeed in these conditions. As I mentioned before, I am more worried about the tame surrender than the defeat itself. You win some, you lose some, but if you win a mere 2 and lose 18 out of the last 21 ODIs played in a country, and were thrashed in most of them, then that is cause for concern. England did well to get to #1 in the ODI rankings but they really need to correct their record in India. At least, they should be competitive.

Akshita29
on January 20, 2013, 6:50 GMT

@Satish.Velu in the Aus Sl match Clarke foolishly used up the only referal that was available . It was abuse of Drs by the Australian captain . Not the fault of DRS but its fault of Michel clarke in this case . DRS is not fool proof . Only one referal is given so that the teams dont abuse it . If u have made an correct referal u can retain the referal . You can not blame DRS for clarke's totally waste of referal to a plumb lbw decision. Probably its a good thing to happen . Now on atleast teams wont use DRS unless they are sure that the onfield decision is wrong.

Hammond
on January 20, 2013, 6:37 GMT

No worries boys. Another two meaningless one day practices in India and then you can go home and rest.

Akshita29
on January 20, 2013, 6:35 GMT

@Candidindian I agree some positive moves needed to be taken . One advantage for India would be the lack of two world class spinners in Aussie ranks unlike England. Lyon is a very good bowler and Maxwell is a young talent . But they cant be compared to Swan and Monty . But again you never know with Indian batsmen now a days. They might gift away their wickets anyway . I just hope some changes are made and India shows some fighting attitude that was missing in the england test series.

Sathish.Velu
on January 20, 2013, 6:11 GMT

People who are demanding drs, pls go and watch aus srilanka match, and then come back to ask for drs, India is right in demanding not to use drs

CandidIndian
on January 20, 2013, 4:45 GMT

@Akshita29 -Since you mentioned Test series vs Aus,its likely that India will struggle in that series until and unless our opening problems are not sorted out.If same team which played against Eng is selected India would lose to Aussies too.Aussies are struggling against SL in ODIs currently but they have a good test side.Gambhir and Sehwag are very poor against quality fast bowling and its clear that Dhoni will again push for challenging wickets with something in it for bowlers.So Indian selectors should include some of the promising players like Jiwanjot Singh, Mandeep Singh,Mukund,Chand ,Tiwary and many others like them.

Shan156
on January 20, 2013, 4:32 GMT

@sensible-indian-fan, whoever said that Dernbach is the world's best death bowler must be out of his/her mind and so are the selectors who keep picking him although it is obvious that he is not good enough at this level.

Re: Jadeja, you might be correct that England is making him look better than he is, but the guy has made excellent use of his abilities. I am more impressed by Kumar and Ahmed than anyone else though. These two must be groomed well and given sufficient chances even after India's first choice pace attack returns. Suddenly, India's pace dept looks quite good - in addition to these two, you have the ever reliable Zaheer, Irfan, Praveen, Munaf, Aaron, and, above all, Yadav. Ishant has been unlucky and Sreesanth is decent.

on January 20, 2013, 4:27 GMT

I don't get why the indian fans are so worked up..... Our team was being bad - mouthed even when it was no. 1 in test match cricket, even when it won the world cup... so, when the team started lose I knew that the trash - talkers would relish this phase.....

what's funny is that after australia i think no one has had the kind of extended run as number 1 that india had and still they were being criticized.....

right now we are obviously a team in transition and we are bound to lose more often than win... all i'm hoping is that the young guys get decent support from the establishment so that they can find their feet in international cricket and we can get back to a phase where we further improve our overseas performances.

CandidIndian
on January 20, 2013, 3:56 GMT

@JG2704 and Shan156 -Hi guys, Eng might have struggled in last two ODIs but overall things does not look difficult for Eng.Add Trott,Bairstow ,Anderson,Swann and Broad to this squad and given that next Champions Trophy is in Eng along with WC 2015 in Aus ,i think Eng will be very hard team to beat in those big tournaments.As far as India is concerned some relief for us because Kohli did well today and our bowlers have shown some promise .However with many of our players struggling against swing i am not sure how confident our team will be when we tour ,which will be soon.About this series its still undecided ,it can go either way.

SASANK360
on January 20, 2013, 3:42 GMT

Good bowling effort is the key to most victories. I am happy our bowlers set up the game for us. Convincing win in the end.
Also Pietersen's wicket re-ignites the debate of DRS. Personally I feel BCCI should put aside its ego and deploy the DRS.It would have surely ruled KP not out yesterday and the match scenario would have been different.Not to forget the performance of other batsmen in the England lineup was dissappointing.If KP is dismissed that doesn't mean end of the road.But rest of the batsmen made it look that way.Joe Root was good to watch.He has patience and hunger to fight it out.But fell to a rather avoidable stroke.England batsmen must step up if they want to stage a comeback. Especially Morgan and Patel during those slog overs must sho they deserve to be in the XI.
Dernbach is pathetic to watch.He hasn't got the brain that succeeds at highest level.His bizzare variations suggest this and above all he can't bowl to a left-hand batsman.He must go. Anyway well done India.

ultimatewarrior
on January 20, 2013, 3:39 GMT

Congrats to India for returning to Top at ICC ODI Ranking and hope they will consolidate to more after winning next 2 matches also......http://www.icc-cricket.com/match_zone/odi_predictor.php

Akshita29
on January 20, 2013, 3:34 GMT

@jg2704 I have respect 4 u as an English fan. Actually I like following English cricket may be mostly due to Kp . It was the unforgettable Ashes 2005 that made me test cricket fan . I was really young then and I used to think test cricket is so boring . But Ashes 2005 changed everything . Now I love tests more than nything . Thats why I hope now that after going through a real bad period in test cricket India can move in the right direction for the coming test series against Australia .

Shan156
on January 20, 2013, 3:05 GMT

@Mitty2, Re: 2010/2011 Ashes, don't forget that we got walloped in the ODI series that followed. The last year was an exception but othewise we have always been an inconsistent/mediocre ODI side for a long time. More than anything, I think we lack the necessary skills to do well in these conditions. Our poor record in India since 2005-2006 corroborates this fact. This team may yet do better in Eng. or Aus. but they look jaded after the 2 defeats. They got to keep believing in themselves and fight hard.

Shan156
on January 20, 2013, 2:58 GMT

@JG2704, It would be tough for our spinners bowling in the last 10 overs especially against the Ind batsmen. Granted our seamers have played poorly but I think it would be a bigger disaster playing just 2 seamers. Let's give Meaker a chance. He cannot fare worse than Dernbach (who could?) who really should not even be in the squad. Kieswetter has to go though. Let's hope we select the right XI and perform better in the next 2 games.

@Mitty2, did you even watch the game? Ind bowled really well. Their pacemen bowled the correct line and length. Eng batted poorly but Ind's bowlers deserve praise for not letting them get away. "Lackluster Indians"? Really? They may not have set the world alight with their test performances of late but they remain an excellent ODI team esply at home and are led by the best ODI player in the world. No shame in losing to this side but I expect us to be more competitive.

sensible-indian-fan
on January 20, 2013, 2:41 GMT

Well played India. Almost everyone did well (and no Gambhir, that does NOT include you, you just survived to reach 30). Even though India won comfortably, India still has loads and loads of batting issues. We need to sort it out. Jadeja bowled really well (but truth is that England is making him look waaaaay better than what he really is, just like what they did with Yuvraj). By the way, I honestly think that Jade Dernbach is the Vinay Kumar of India. I heard that the English media called him as the world's best death bowler. Not sure if they said that or not but if they did, they got to be joking. Don't know how he keeps getting selected when England have tons of other class pacers.

kristee
on January 20, 2013, 1:39 GMT

It's not just as a player that Dhoni's stature pales when compared to Gilchrist's, he is nowhere near that Great Aussie even on moral terms. He has walked a lot so umpires would be fooled into believing he's not out whenever he stays. I was not even watching the game as with such crowd and Kulkarnis and Revis, I was not enthused enough about the prospects. And when I casually got to the proceedings, Shastri and company are deliberating on KP's 'dismissal'. Well, if this is not bad for cricket, nothing else is. Slightly better, not good enough yet, umpiring had saved the test series from lapsing into farce. Perhaps cricket is doomed to mediocrity.

samualsundar
on January 20, 2013, 1:02 GMT

Board have to do more work on Indian team short listing process , I can't understand Y still Gautam gambir G & Virander .Shewag are in, '0' footwork they were unfit, poor performance in recent home & overseas series. Sack them these doughy people. Board must encourage and respect their player who were play with passion. also H.S should given a more chance, he is the most experienced & attacking spinner in all format of cricket. Srishanth , Pujara & Murali vijay should given a chance, they were in decent form in recent domestic matches.

on January 20, 2013, 0:47 GMT

Hi. During the second ODI against England there was a banner in the crowd which has caused significant confusion within my household.

The banner in question read, 'Tendulkar - taught us how to play. Ganguly - taught us how to win. Dravid - taught us how to Got Round. Laxman - taught us to fight. Thank you"

My friend and I understand 75% of this banner. What we dont understand is the Dravid comment.

Does anybody know what GOT ROUND means?

Your response is muchly appreciated.

Jason and Akaash.

Chesty-la-roux
on January 19, 2013, 23:41 GMT

English fans should not be concerned about the embarrassing debacle playing out in India at the moment. Take heart in the knowledge that the ECB did the right thing by purging the team of cliques, and getting rid of the leader who allowed it to thrive on his watch. The short term pain will be worth the long term gain. From what to all appearances looks like an ill disciplined and clueless collection of county journeymen, a thriving A grade team can be moulded in the new environment of 21st century team culture and harmony.

The bad news is that the same purging is undoubtedly coming to the test team as well, so I fear team England is sailing towards many years of aimless drifting, becalmed in the cricketing doldrums. We must not become depressed by this inevitability, but remain stoic in the face of the upcoming decline.

Alive2cu
on January 19, 2013, 23:12 GMT

@Harmony__ DRS means that if a batsman is given out incorrectly and he knows it, he should have the right to ask for a review, and if a bowling team gets a bad decision and they know it, they can ask for a review (no matter how much technology is available at ground).. So many bad decisions can actually be corrected, while not a single good decision can be reversed. So it makes no sense for anyone to argue against DRS.. And hence BCCI and all those indians who support this idea of BCCI actually talk nonsense.. Perhaps now they have come to the level, where they cant win without a bad decision going in their favour.. And if any goes against them, they even dont have the right to complain, as they have created this problem

nilb
on January 19, 2013, 23:11 GMT

Yeah, as long as the Indian team plays only in dead pitches at home their ranking will be glued at No 1. Wow what a contrast., Now suddenly India's the "worlds best team (tm)" I wonder where some of these people were when Cook was ripping a new one for Dhoni?

KiwiRocker-
on January 19, 2013, 22:43 GMT

Harmony111: Your comments about Pakistan's winning margins are just silly. Pakistan won in Chennai by 6 wickets, Pakistan won in Kolkota by 85 runs. India won in Dlehi by ten runs! Now judge for yourself who was dominant team? India won T20 also by mere 10 runs! While, India's wins were narrow and manufactured ( aided by umpires, Refer Shoib getting rough call 3rd ODI), Pakistan has beaten India fair and square in India in front of their home crowd and umpires. Actually, This England and India ODI series shows that how well Pak did to win! One can understand your frustration and anger but you do not need to disrespect players like Rana Naveed and Wahab. Rana Naveed is MVP ( You know what it means?) in Big bash in Australia. He has performed for Sussex with distinction whole Wahab destroyed Indian batting in WC semi! You need to be rational and factual. You need to learn from defeats and show humility with wins like West Indies and Pak teams of 80/90's! You lack temprament to be here :)

itsthewayuplay
on January 19, 2013, 22:28 GMT

contd I was surprised with England today even allowing for a low score. This was a good cricket wicket with something in it for seamers and spinners and batsmen getting value for their shots if they worked for it. Both Finn and Dernbach bowled quick and missed a trick by not testing Gambhir and Yuvraj with the permitted 2 bouncers per over.
DRS raised it head again with Pieterson's dismissal. What will it take for the BCCI to change its stance but with the number of plain wrong decisions on both sides throughout the tests and the ODIs so far that would have been reversed, the BCCI is being made to look even more foolish.

itsthewayuplay
on January 19, 2013, 22:27 GMT

Contd Batting generally remains a concern particularly the openers. How Gambhir got to 33 is anybody's guess. I feel for Rahane as his game is suited more to tests and if he is to be part of the ODI setup he should be allowed to play his natural game in his best position whatever that is. But to be fair, Finn asked the questions with a perfect offcutter for the second consecutive game and perhaps exposed a weakness in his defence? Anyway hope he's given an extended run in the side. A couple more new faces in for Gambhir and Yuvraj and then India can truly start rebuilding or are these 2 the next set of undroppables of Indian cricket?

itsthewayuplay
on January 19, 2013, 22:27 GMT

Results of the last 2 ODIs aside, some positives in the Indian performances. Kumar continued moving the ball off the seam rather than relying solely on swing which is what India has been lacking and helps make up for his lack of pace. Ahmed looks a busy bowler and understands line and length. Kohli finally looks like he was coming back into form but still some way to go. Ashwin bowl a goodun to get Bresnan and this is the delivery he has to do more of then his other variations will keep the batsmen guessing. Unfortunately Ishant is not the bowler of 4 years ago in Australia and perhaps a stint in county cricket is the next step for him.

JACK.SPARROW
on January 19, 2013, 22:20 GMT

Dhoni should have batted at no.3 at least for today's match because india were chasing a low score and there was no pressure on india. so dhoni could have got some runs and entertained his home crowd.

appkhi
on January 19, 2013, 22:18 GMT

@kc69_ You are saying real test of Pak team will be in SA. Why India stop going out of India? They have home series with England, Pak and Australia.....look at India's losing record of playing abroad. Look at Lanka they won in Australia so ask Indian team to go even to Bangladesh they will know their strength....

nyc_missile
on January 19, 2013, 22:18 GMT

Jadeja at home is a decent bowling option,Ishant got lucky with his wickets; I would surely drop him and play Jadeja as a pure bowler and play either Pujara or Rohit in the squad.They're being utterly wasted on the bench due to Dhoni's stupidity & rigidity.Rahane is a bit loose at the moment but must be persisted with for the whole series.

What is Duncan doing? He ought to be working with such youngsters at least, if seniors are not accessible.This is where he's failed.I can understand BCCI gag order on him w.r.t media interactions etc but what's stopping him from actively working with youngsters on technique & temperament ? Finally so good to see class act Kohli back to his best.He looked good in the last match too,this would surely increase his confidence ahead of a crucial Oz series.Ashwin is slowly getting there.Overall,good signs for the bowling unit.

Mitty2
on January 19, 2013, 22:17 GMT

What a rabble English cricket has become. The inevitable fall from the brilliance of the 10/11 ashes team is more of an utter capitulation than just a steady decline. Their batting which was once so reliable is now seriously lacking, Strauss and collingwood's retirements haven't been covered at all, nice batting depth. Is that two identical scores of about 150 on complete flat batting tracks.. Where the lackluster Indians scores 290 odd in the secon odi and in this odi would've scored about 300. Talk of Australians fielding a B team without Watson and hussey.. This is a full strength English odi line up and they're still failing badly, even against the likes of a horrid indian bowling line up.
And they're bowling looks dreadful, Finn is consitently expensive, not to mention the nothing bowlers of woakes (didn't play this game though), dernbach and tredwell. The fall of bresnan is also incredibly amusing. Since the ashes series, he is averaging 74 with the ball.. Really penetrating..

KiwiRocker-
on January 19, 2013, 22:09 GMT

As a nuetral fan, I can not help but feel for England. Here is a recap of What has happened so far. A.Cook gets a rough decision in 2nd ODI but Dhoni is given not out when he was out at 6. This leads to India scoring big and really winning ODI. Indeed Yuvraj also gets a rough call but he should have been out at 7 as a caught behind! Umpire kulkarni single handedly takes England down.Third ODI, Englands's best batsman finely plaved at 60 odd in 12 runs gets a rough decision. England loses momentun and its all done and dusted.In all fairness, this is Englands's 'A" team and they can not play spin. They have hammered india in tests because COok and Pieterson scored so if you give them out, rest is all over for England! Rewind back to Pak series, Younis Khan given out LBS when he nicked was a wrong call.He simply walked away! Shoib Malik gets a rough call in third ODI leading to India win.! Younis Khan in first ODI should have been out but India gets a rough call! This needs to be stopped!

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 22:02 GMT

@mazii: To put things as they are to you, Pak won just 1 more match than India. And I've told you before, if someone asks to Ind will you be happy to lose once in a blue moon to Pak with a minimal margin but win against them all the time in WCs I guess Ind will take it with both its hands with glee.

Your team played well to win the 1st 2 ODIs and Ind got no excuses there but your team also failed to chase paltry 167 and that in itself shows that your 1st 2 wins were flukes and when Ind improved by a mere 10% in the 3rd ODI during bowling and fielding the gap between Ind and Pak became visible.

My dear munna, we will see how your Juanid & Irfan go from here. For now tell me where is your Mohd Sammi? He used to be your next big thing right?

Here's a puzzle for you: How many Akmals does one need to take a catch?

on January 19, 2013, 21:50 GMT

i m a pak fan...good match to watch...congrat on ur win india....come on brit lads...make next match a exciting match..we want a good competitive match,not 1 sided match...hope india continue its form of winning...i hope india also win abroad when they play next time with quality team....asian teams should start concentrating on batting on seaming and fast tracks..so the cricket will b more interesting and europeon team shold learn how to play spin....at the end CRICKET SHOULD WIN...

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 21:37 GMT

Btw, what's happened to KW? Is he suffering cos he is batting low down? I've seen him opening a few times and he looks a very strong hitter of the ball. Also, where's Luke Wright? He got some runs in WT20 and shud be given a chance.

And there used to be a leftie in Eng team. I saw him playing ODIs vs Aus after the Ashes last time. He perhaps also played the WC but I am not sure. Sort of an all rounder. What happened to him?

Where's Ravi Bopara? I may hear a few phews and duhs here but what Eng need right now is a typical batsman, not a swasher. Or is it true that Ravi and Rohit share a lot of their success?

And why does Prior not play ODIs?
Where's Bairstow? Where's Butler?

As per my conspiracy theory, ECB deliberately have kept their ODI team so weak so that they can at least have the excuse that this was their A/B/C/D team.

@yorkshiregenius: Why do you have genius in your moniker when you are anything but? Why don't you try using "jester"? Will suit you a lot more.

vioo
on January 19, 2013, 21:17 GMT

@maddy20 well said bro... nice reply to GerrardLK

Karthik78
on January 19, 2013, 21:09 GMT

mazil, don't feel like you beat India and won the WC. Pak drew T20 and Won the ODI series by 2-1 (thrashing means more than this). Currently Pak is slightly better side do not overrate your team. Don't you forget we won 4-1 series in your Pakistan soil? I think that is much bigger than this 2-1. First change your objective to win big matches like World Cup and big tournaments. Pak is very ordinary team which will soon be thrashed by SA. That time, you will understand what thrash means.

kc69
on January 19, 2013, 20:47 GMT

@Mazii:as a cricket fan i have extreme respect towards the commitment and talent of Pakistan Cricket team but as you have bought this topic.1-1 T20 series Draw(That too the win was a final over win thanks to Sir Ravindra Jadeja).and 2-1 ODI series win(which included first match where 4 incorrect decisions involving 3 players-Jamshed(2),Younis Khan and Azhar Ali) if you call that thrashing India(especially when its weak bowling has missing stars such as Zaheer,Irfan,Yadav and Ojha) then i really cannot help you.Except for 2nd ODI Pak really didnt dominate.Your teams real test will be in SA.Don't be happy win 1 or 2 wins like Lankans.

cricket-is-best
on January 19, 2013, 20:40 GMT

hopefully pujara gets a chance to play in d next match in place of gambhir! It wud be unfair to drop rahane given that in india some players with horrible perfomances gets to play 80+ matches for d country when they shud have been permanently shown d door way before! I always feel baffled at dhoni's tubular vision in team selection with no guts to experiment with newer n newer players when they r available in plenty!

yorkshiregenius
on January 19, 2013, 20:38 GMT

@ pitch_curator,cool2cool, Nampally, Bruisers:- You guys must be busy digging the Earth of cricket to find out England's failures. Oh yeah digging the Earth...that's something your cricket team should have done instead of playing cricket. Anyhow I appreciate your tiresome effort. At least now you know you have to go a long way back to find out England's failures. ha ha funny guys talking about things happened few decades back don't see how they have been rolling on mud for last 20 months. I apologize for disturbing you, please continue digging. I really think you had better ask your team to join with you.. ROFLOL

RednWhiteArmy
on January 19, 2013, 20:24 GMT

Congrats India. You probably deserve the ODI series. But every cricket fan who isnt a new-age stickcricket fan knows the ultimate test of a cricketing nations skill is test match cricket & you've lost home & away. So keep everything in perspective, like i am.

As for the aussies, well what can i say, after your rather sad & pathetic 74 (40/9) at home, you must have really needed this result, i mean, thats why your here right?:)

ozone8237
on January 19, 2013, 20:24 GMT

But In addition to my Previous comments Shami and BK are bowling superb saving the runs. Ishant needs to find his Speed (as per Wasim Akram) and line and length. Shami and BK will find the ways to get wickets down the road.. keep it up.

I_AM_INDIA_SUPPORTER
on January 19, 2013, 20:22 GMT

@mazii don't over rate too much about junaid. please don't forget about mendis history against India after one successful magical bowling against India in Asia cup final.After that mendis bowling was smashed by our Indian batsmen. junaid got wickets of form out batsmen not inform batsmen(raina,dhoni). Dhoni smashed his bowling to sixes and fours(watch second ODI highlights). within one or Two ODI's don't bring him to top of the ICC rankings and best bowler of the year 2013 :-) Lol

Cpt.Meanster
on January 19, 2013, 20:22 GMT

@JG2704: I think Wright is a one dimensional slogger. Does he have the patience and class to play a structured innings in 50 overs cricket ? Why is Jos Butler out of the team ? When will Jade Dernbach be sent back to South Africa ? Why does Anderson need so much rest ? Is it wrong to play Monty Panesar in ODIs ? So the questions go on for England in ODIs.

ozone8237
on January 19, 2013, 20:20 GMT

Indian Cricketers couldn't play under pressure with Pakistan facing the world class Bowling attack. But They sure learned and bounced back in the series with England. Had India not played with Pakistan between the Christmas break they wouldn't have been exposed to the classy Fast and spin bowling attack and would have not given the same results.

Any way Being a Pakistani and a Neighbor to India my sympathy is with Dhoni's 11 Good Luck

sanjeevmukherjee2006
on January 19, 2013, 20:14 GMT

For sl fans first try to win a test in india and aus and den comment who was the team who beat sl in wc 11 it was india who thrashed sl 4-1 in odi in sl last year it was india which team won so many odi tournaments in sl again it was india

for odis , england have no batsman no fielder and certainly no fight , thats why no wc for them and certainly no glory

sanjeevmukherjee2006
on January 19, 2013, 20:01 GMT

The pakistanis over here commenting are thinking by beating india 2-1 they have won world cup just to remind them last time they beat india was in 2009 now in 2010 pak lost to india in asia cup they again lost to us in 2011 in world cup they again lost to us in 2012 in asia cups they have not won a single game in wc against. India. And now sa will beat dem left rite nd center just like aus white washef dem in 2010

Cpt.Meanster
on January 19, 2013, 19:56 GMT

Absolute MAULING of England. India need to keep doing the same in Mohali. The series is not yet won. Dharamshala could have weather problems so the series must be won next game. Congratulations to team India and the city of Ranchi for a wonderful spectacle. It's a world class venue and the people of Ranchi can be proud of their city as well as India's skipper MS Dhoni. Come on India, let's finish it off in Mohali. God bless.

theRule19
on January 19, 2013, 19:55 GMT

Great effort by team India..as expected..tough luck team England..KP got a rough decision and had the DRS been there things would have been interesting to see what sort of a total England would have got. The wicket was as usual a batting paradise like most Indian wickets where the English failed to put a challenging total. But taking nothing away from the Indians..they batted brilliantly.

DocBindra
on January 19, 2013, 19:49 GMT

@BravoBravo...I'm sorry was there a point to your post? NZ beat SA in SA-good for them. What does it have to do with the Ind-Eng series? Same old story for mediocre team India...one or 2 wins per year...? Really? Who is the current World Champion? Oh that's right, the mediocre 2nd tier team. I guess losing to them on consecutive thrashings make England a 3rd tier team? Isn't NZ the same team that just lost 2 consecutive tests by Inns defeat? Weren't they just recently bowled out for 45 runs? Didn't SL just get there clock cleaned in Australia? Did it escape you that this is a team in transition? Only Dhoni, Yuvraj and soon to be departed Gambhir are the ONLY players over 30. ...its not necessary to post comments just because, especially, if its just a rant.

hhillbumper
on January 19, 2013, 19:47 GMT

If this doesn't prove that Dernbach should not be picked for England then I don't know what does.Drop him for ever and take Kieswetter with him. It is all well and good getting imports but at least get some decent ones.

KannanAkil
on January 19, 2013, 19:30 GMT

I think inida is no 1 ODI team in world now. India shold select diffrnt teams for all three formats
ODI: Dhoni(cptn).Rahane.Uthappa.Sikar dhawan,Kohli,Raina,Yuvi,Jadeja,Manoj Tiwary,Rohith,Irfan,Praveen,B.Kuamr,Shami ahemd,Ashwin,Piyush.
Test:Dhoni(capt),M.vijay.Gambhir,Sachin,Kohli,Pujara,Rohit,A.Mukud,Badrinath,Sreesanth,Ishanth,Ashwin,Ohja,B.Kumar,Dinda
T20:Dhoni(capt),Uthappa,Rahane,Raina,Yuvi,Kohli,Rohith,Jadeja,Irfan,Praveen,Ashwin,B.Kumar,Shani Ahnad,Dinda,Harbhajan,Sikar Dhawan

Nutcutlet
on January 19, 2013, 19:29 GMT

As I'm sure any scientist knows, when you do what you've done before, expect to get the same result. ODI#2; ODI#3. Virtually the same team, same failings (primarily malfunctioning batting, but also some erratic bowling) same trouncing. This team is now getting conditioned to failure. There are other players in the squad. If they're fit, surely they've deserved their chance, by default. Meaker or Onions or Woakes for Dernbach has to be the most glaringly obvious. Apparently,there is a perception that Buttler may not not have the ability to keep for a whole 50 overs. That is an untested prejudice. It's time to find out. Craig Kieswetter is not the answer; that much has been established, conclusively. The character & composition of this side is under stern examination now. Defeats can be put into several categories. This one & the one before this one are in the bottom category: humiliation. Can we reach 'honourable' before the tour's done?

TMSer
on January 19, 2013, 19:19 GMT

@Prakmca hope you are joking abiut rohit! if any repleacement batsmen is coming into the odi side int he future it should be m vijay or pujara.

Also im glad to see so many in indias fanbase stopped moaning about jadeja and get off his back, now hes doing well with bat and ball and in field- he will be a crucial all-rounder in indias future odi plans.
gambhirs place is looking shaky.

also hope to see Sandeep Sharma given a chance soon, and rest ishant, and also young saxena as new spin option. what happened to ohja? why is he not considered in odi?

Klgn
on January 19, 2013, 19:17 GMT

Ravindra Jadeja..WOW!! What a player HE is! Apart from India Show, England openers started well. Umpires again biggy mistakes!!! Suggestions to England players, why are you rely on cheap shots like reverse sweep everytime?? Reverse sweep is a good -classic cricketing shot in England???

The_bowlers_Holding
on January 19, 2013, 19:09 GMT

England may have a couple of bowlers missing and key ones at that, BUT the batting is pretty much full strength and they have capitulated or rather been done by the bowling. This was the main area of concern for Indian (and English sceptics) fans along with MSD captaincy so all round India have done for England sad for me but very promising for India.

Alexk400
on January 19, 2013, 19:07 GMT

Pathetic england ODI team. No bowlers and No batsman. No All rounders.

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 19:01 GMT

yuvi should not have defended tredwell as he cant spin much , he should have carted him over cow corner, want him to dominate english bowlers in his hometown mohali ( 250 is match winning for india as shown in recent ranji matches, )next, he genarally plays out of his skin there, got my tickets today, hope india seal england fate there with a big win before moving to foothills of himalya at dharamshala(300 plus is inevitable(only for india ,hehe) as it is a flat track with small boundaries) in sub zero temperatures with tonight being -5( chilly)

JG2704
on January 19, 2013, 18:56 GMT

@Shan156 on (January 19 2013, 16:52 PM GMT) Agree with Jos for Craig but do you think it's just coincidence that our spinners are going for less runs than our pace bowlers. It might go horrible but what's wrong with trying Briggs for a pacer?

@jackiethepen on (January 19 2013, 14:30 PM GMT) Obviously the KP dismissal could have made a difference but Bell didn't carry on for much longer and who's to say KP wouldn't have found a way to get himself out? The bad thing today was that we had pretty much a 1st choice batting line up and no scoreboard pressure and we were still found wanting. If Luke and Alex were in the squad I'd definitely consider bringing them in and Jos (the only other batsman we have) must play next match.

JG2704
on January 19, 2013, 18:56 GMT

@Akshita29 - Like most of your points and as an Indian fan and more over a cricket fan you have my full respect. Not sure if we're over reliant on Cook and KP but I too would like at some point to see guys like Hales.Wright and Buttler given a a go although only one of the 3 are out there. If Buttler and Briggs aren't in the side next time out our team deserves the 4-1 thrashing it's likely to get. I know people say about building a stable team but

A - Keeping faith with underperforming players has by and large cost us results this year (not saying we'd have definitely done better)
B - In these shorter formats we're always going to be resting players anyway so we're never going to build a regular side

JG2704
on January 19, 2013, 18:55 GMT

@Sinhya on (January 19 2013, 10:41 AM GMT) I make that 2 lame batting performances but I get your drift

@sachin_vvsfan on (January 19 2013, 14:53 PM GMT) SherjilIslam (to who I was talking about - unless this is another alias ) on (January 19 2013, 10:03 AM GMT) said "I know, all England fans will now cry for the one wrong decision which KP got" - The word all , means everyone.

@supadupamonk on (January 19 2013, 12:38 PM GMT) Sorry , are you talking about Pakistan here or what test series?

@spiritwithin on (January 19 2013, 17:09 PM GMT) Just Eng fans who make excuses right? Most English fans... what a load of tosh

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 18:52 GMT

congrats india for reaching top rank in sport u conquered in 2011 , well played young guns from indian subcontinent, u all are sons of soil and pride of 1.2 billion indians.

vrkp
on January 19, 2013, 18:51 GMT

I would like to see how Pujara play if he is to open the innings in place of Rahane. I dont think he is going to play worse than Rahane. Also, it gives him the much needed intl match fitness and practice before the Aus series. In any case he comes at 1 down in tests and most of the time within the first 5-10 overs in the tests, so he should be ok.

hitngiggles123
on January 19, 2013, 18:40 GMT

once upon a time the test team played 50ovr cric ,now we have specialists and rotation lol...try playing your test side just for a laugh ...really try it ..maybe im way off base ?

rav421
on January 19, 2013, 18:31 GMT

Well done India!!..Bad luck England!Unfortunate for KP but dont think KP could have done much damage even if he were not given out. India's bowling attack was just brilliant. Hope to see more of these wins come in the future. England would just have to make a new strategy. England fell really fast but great batting performance by Root!Never lost a nerve until the Ishant over.I guess it was the pressure. Even then, a great show of character by India and hope u can win the next match as well to just seal the series.

Professor.Biscuit.Khan
on January 19, 2013, 18:21 GMT

Before the tournament started, some of the Pakistan fans were saying Ind's new opening bowlers / Ind bowling will be exposed against England. What happened friends ? I can't see you guys. Well, I guess, it's not easy for you chaps to digest India's thrashing WIN.

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 18:20 GMT

@All Indian Fans and supporters: With NZ beating SA today, India has clinched the top place in ODI rankings.

Professor.Biscuit.Khan
on January 19, 2013, 18:17 GMT

Although, England might have lost the match but I like this guy Tredwell. He always picks top-order wickets and contribute to team's cause unlike Ajmal who gets lower-order batsmen out (for a losing cause) and then claims he should have got the Man OF the Match award.

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 18:16 GMT

@BravoBravo: You said on (January 19 2013, 17:33 PM GMT): "Even they never one a series in SL". So who did they beat 1-4 last time in SL???

realfan
on January 19, 2013, 18:15 GMT

@Altamash.Baig
no need to worry about that.... after all every home crowd wants to see thier HERO bat once in a match and getting winning runs....creating an issue out of it would be an serious joke......

RK.Chandru
on January 19, 2013, 18:07 GMT

Why Rohit is there in the team for the next ODIs? I'd prefer Manoj Tiwari or Dinesh karthik coming in place of Rohit Sharma, M. Vijay or Shikar Dhawan in place of Ghambir and Sreesanth or pankaj in place of Ishant.

Prakmca
on January 19, 2013, 17:59 GMT

4th time a row Rahane failed. Body language of Rahane when he palys domestic matches is totally different from when he appears in Intl Matches. It's very difficult to survive he is follow this pattern. There were so many players like this in the past and present.

One last time, to Rohit. Try open the batting with him. If he signs ok, else no need to consider in the future at all.

Nutcutlet
on January 19, 2013, 17:54 GMT

This was a v good cricket wicket - it rewarded quicks with some movement, gave a little help to spinners & yet had a fair & regular amount of bounce that allowed confident, correct batsmen, (like Kohli & to an extent, Root) to trust it. What was not to like? All you then needed to have a good contest was two sides. Unfortunately, only one side turned up & a few visitors who must have wondered if the rest were having a seista at the hotel. Yes, KP got a rubbish decision, but is that the signal for a wholesale capitulation? If it is, then there's no backbone in this side. In defeat (no, rout) I always look for those players who emerge with credit. I saw Root confirm his promise before getting ahead of himself; I saw Tredwell bowling as professionally as ever & Finn put some effort in. Little else. Frankly, an apology was due from Cook before leaving. Normally gracious, he seemed to forget to offer it: one of many things England forgot today. Well done, India! it was easy, wasn't it?

TRAM
on January 19, 2013, 17:48 GMT

I saw only an hour or so of the India start of their innings. Gambhir was as usual poking and poking. Then one good leave and Gavaskar was praising that great leave. And I saw the news that Gambhir is retained for the next ODIs too. And I switched off. End of story.

Dravid_Pujara_Gravitas
on January 19, 2013, 17:40 GMT

That was a very good win on the back of excellent bowling performances and pro-active captaincy. Dhoni is forcing the issue with his attacking captaincy, field placements and asking Bhuv to bowl on the trot, thereby increasing the pressure on the batsmen by suffocating them. Though Bhuv leaked a boundary every over from his third over or so, the pressure was kept on by him, Shami and Dhoni. Shami has been very very good. All said and done, Gambhir has to go. Just because we won doesn't mean that all is well with our batting. Congratulations India. Well done. It is ridiculous to say that the best batsman in the country will get a chance IF AND ONLY IF a miserable player gets injured.

Narkovian
on January 19, 2013, 17:38 GMT

@balajik1968. I agree. Why Prior is not in ODI side remains a mystery. Maybe 2 or 3 years ago he was not producing with the bat. But now he is probably the best Wkt/Bat in the world. Keiswetter just doesnt cut it.
Once again ENG 2ndX1 lose an ODI. Then again you could just say the batting was awful !. The bowlers are even worse, but didnt get a chance to show how bad this time.
Rotation ? Give me a break. If you cant play your best side because there is "too much cricket", then there is something wrong with the schedule. ( which there is !!).
Public doesn't pay to watch 2nd XI.

GurSinghgur
on January 19, 2013, 17:37 GMT

Afzal M.Faridi, at 16,39 and 35 or so: "England is an annoying ODI & T20 team, please stick to Test only, that is too boring for us." And "England fans are crying loads, and I am loving it!!! They can never win a ODI series in India, haha and these pitches are not even Flat tracks anymore, haha!! Sit 5 days and watch your 5 days boring match my dear boring English fans!! haha"

Suggest you read what I wrote an hour earlier. And go home and sleep. When you wake up you might even find you've grown up as well.

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 17:33 GMT

i just checked the SA-NZ article on 1st ODI's,there the SA fans r sportingly giving kudos to kiwis for good show and then discussing y their team was unable to won the match,nobody is boasting that SA thrashed kiwis in the test series and nobody's downplaying Kiwis win,and when i compare that article to this one i find that most english fan r doing just the opposite,no wonder most of the fans here r not talking cricket here

realfan
on January 19, 2013, 17:33 GMT

@nilb
yes mate INDIANS are worlds best team twice ( 1983 & 2011 )
and england were never and never gonna be...... its a day dream for english fans to see their team as a best team......

BravoBravo
on January 19, 2013, 17:33 GMT

NZ win over SA is remarkable as they swallowed SA in SA. However, the sceond tier team IND defeating ENG in their own backyard, same story for mediocre team IND, moment their caravan goes and and play on foreign soil, they being just white washed and humiliated. Even they never one a series in SL. For IND one or 2 wins per year are enough to keep them bragging for decades.

appkhi
on January 19, 2013, 17:17 GMT

@sendlink...you should be feeling shame by calling India # 1. If look at the history when Sri Lanka got test status...India start playing with Sri Lanka and made all record....India always look for weak teams and make record....Go out side of home series you will know the team India strength ....

MEHATELK
on January 19, 2013, 17:13 GMT

INDIA WON the WC IN 2011 with DRS available.

Alphabaig
on January 19, 2013, 17:11 GMT

Few runs required, situation under control, Dhoni promotes himself up the batting order, nothing new

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 17:09 GMT

i m loving silly excuses from english fans now,let me list some of their excuses-
1)England r playing with their 'B' Team
2)Eng lost bcoz DRS is not used(never mind if their nine other players were unable to play and bowlers were rubbish in the match)
3)India is a minnow and sometimes minnow also wins.
4)next Champions Trophy and WC will be in Eng and Aus,so losing this match means nothing
5)England won the test series,hence losing the odi's is not a big deal
6)so what if England lost the Indian team also lost many in recent times.
7)India can only win in flat tracks(never mind if their team is struggling in the so called flat tracks)
u can add more if u find more interesting excuses..cricinfo pls publish

andrew27994
on January 19, 2013, 17:06 GMT

Though India might be winning easily with the current combination, I think they should make some changes in the batting lineup at least. I've had enough of seeing Gambhir struggling to build an innings. To be fair he is working hard to get back in form and keeps getting starts but he is not Gambhir at his very best, so I think selectors should be a bit harsh and drop him until he shows good signs of form in domestic cricket. Rather play Pujara , though is inexperienced but in form than an out of shape Gambhir.
India's XI should be : Rahane , Pujara, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvaneshwar, Ahmed and Ishant Sharma/Dinda

It would be advisable for England to replace Dernbach for briggs and bowl some more overs of Patel. England should have more spinners in their attack in order to be effective enough on these wickets. Also I get the impression that Indian batsmen can pick Dernbach's slower balls very easily so he isn't effective enough at the death overs either.
England's XI should be : Bell, Cook, Root, Pietersen, Morgan, Buttler, Patel, Bresnan/Woakes, Tredwell, Finn and Briggs

balajik1968
on January 19, 2013, 16:56 GMT

I watched Kieswetter today. The more I see him, the more I am convinced that the best person for England in that slot is Prior. If Prior is being kept back due to some nonsense theory, well the English management needs to have its head examined.

sendlink
on January 19, 2013, 16:55 GMT

India is number 1 odi team according to icc rankings ....... :-)

maddy20
on January 19, 2013, 16:55 GMT

@Front-Foot-Lunge
Which of KP, Bell, Cook, Bresnan, Patel, Tredwell, Kieswetter, Morgan etc., are youngsters? India has by definition more youngsters than Eng.Yeah you did thrash us in our backyard, but if Bangladesh can get a few Saffa top-class imports, they will too. And despite of all your South African and Irish imports your World XI batsmen were made to look like a bunch of club cricketers by our rookie bowling attack. Tredwell and Bresnan together have more firstclass experience than the entire Indian bowling attack combined(4 bowlers +Jadeja included). You have nowhere left to hide and I am pretty sure ECB recruiting office in Cape Town is busy and their talent scouts are on the prowl 24x7. Here's a little statistic for you. Last 20 ODIs in India. England won 2, Drawn 1, Lost 17! I rest my case.

Shan156
on January 19, 2013, 16:52 GMT

For England to compete, the first thing they need to do is get their best possible XI - there is no place for Kieswetter and Dernbach in that. Show them out and play Buttler and Meaker/Woakes. The next problem is our batsmen's inability to rotate strike consistently. You don't need to always look for boundaries. I thought Root was good and KP was unlucky. Morgan played a needless stroke to a half-tracker. Let's hope that our batsmen manage to use their full 50 overs in the next 2 games. We will worry about getting a big score later. Most Eng. fans didn't expect us to win in these conditions. But, neither did we expect losing without a fight.

Shan156
on January 19, 2013, 16:49 GMT

So, England back to their consistent worst. But, I think India's bowlers deserve praise for their superb performance. B.Kumar has been a revelation for India. Shami Ahmed was very good. Ishant bowled a few gems too. Together they have ensured that India didn't miss their first choice pace attack. The performance of their pacemen must be really heartening for India. And, Jadeja. What an impressive performer her has been. Dhoni made inspiring bowling changes. We all knew England's frailties against spin in these conditions but in this game they were troubled by pace too.

itsthewayuplay
on January 19, 2013, 16:47 GMT

@ RandyOZ (January 19 2013, 12:16 PM GMT) 'Literally the two worst sides in ODI cricket, slogging it out on another featherbed...' Sorry mate this article is not about the Australia-SL series.

lukecannon
on January 19, 2013, 16:43 GMT

India over the line thanks to the umpires again. lol enjoy your very brief success at the top of the ICC rankings. It will be very brief. SA is going to reclaim it in the next game against NZ.

appkhi
on January 19, 2013, 16:42 GMT

bobmartin.....since long time India is playing all home series.....still loosing most the series...they will two ODI against an bellow average team and now they think they are back.....go and play macthes even against Bangladesh not at home go to their land and win....all these heroes will be zero....

on January 19, 2013, 16:39 GMT

England fans are crying loads, and I am loving it!!! They can never win a ODI series in India, haha and these pitches are not even Flat tracks anymore, haha!! Sit 5 days and watch your 5 days boring match my dear boring English fans!! haha

pull_shot
on January 19, 2013, 16:38 GMT

@nilb yes with this win india has become no 1 team in odi's as SA lost to NZ.s chasing 350 is not a bad thing or is it?

brusselslion
on January 19, 2013, 16:37 GMT

@BowlersWinMatches on (January 19 2013, 14:41 PM GMT): Interesting use of statistics: No doubt India have the better head-to-head record in recent ODIs - just as England have the better record in recent Test series - but ODIs in England don't count then? (3-0; 7-3; 9-3 in England's favour depending on how far you want to go back).

on January 19, 2013, 16:35 GMT

England is an annoying ODI & T20 team, please stick to Test only, that is too boring for us, we don't have enough time sitting in front of a tv or in a stadium for 5 days long, boring English people and their fans! We like fast cricket, adios!

Rukhshan786
on January 19, 2013, 16:35 GMT

It's really great to see Kholi is back in form. This guy is the next Tendulkar in world cricket. Just like Ajmal who'll be the next Murali in world cricket. We'll see great battles ahead. Kohli Vs Ajmal.

pitch_curator
on January 19, 2013, 16:34 GMT

@nilb -- Flat pitches?? I thought the last two scores by England were 150 odds.. Did they change the pitch when England were batting? Dont make a fool of yourself in public forums dude.

Back-Foot-Bulge
on January 19, 2013, 16:34 GMT

Yes!! youngsters!!! right!!!

So have they got any one better than this current team?? i don't think so..
Broady?? i guess he'z injured... else he would led their T20 team right??Panesar?? come on guys gimme a break... u people dint want him to be even in your test side ( Bad fielder, batsman ).. and finally Swann and Jimmy...I am not sure if they r fit or not but i don't really think they are that good in ODI's in the sub continent. Yes, KP's dismissal made the big difference. He is the one who carries England's ODI batting on his shoulders..he is THE superstar...its all about KP when england is batting and i am sure these indians are more disappointed about KP's dismissal than the english. Afterall they paid to watch competitive cricket. I guess its time BCCI re looks at its stance on DRS.

henchart
on January 19, 2013, 16:33 GMT

SRT has to be recalled nay pleaded to return to ODI's. India can ill afford players like Gambhir and Rahane opening the batting on bouncy pitches of UK , SA and even NZL.Please please SRT come back.ODI Cricket isnt cricket without you.What are you doing playing First class cricket while players unfit to tie even your boot laces are being given chance after chance?Blame it on Dhoni for contriving your ODI retirement.

Sagay-Ed
on January 19, 2013, 16:33 GMT

"No DRS means better side need not win" - All you people can support DRS, but do not make statements like these. What about all the matches played before DRS was first implemented? Are all the results not correct at all? Do you want those results and records to be ignored?

Noboundary
on January 19, 2013, 16:31 GMT

Except Peterson none in this English team can play shorter versions of the game. Dernbach stubbornly bowls the same leg side line to left handers like an automaton...he never learns. Can't believe why he is played in the eleven!

kc69
on January 19, 2013, 16:31 GMT

Its good to see India back to winning ways,but i would have been happier to see Virender Sehwag instead of Rahane.Gautam Gambir got runs yet he is more disappointment than any other cricketer. He in other words looks like Rohit Sharma who is in team for no reason again and again.For people who are saying that England "B"Team please remember more than half of the players were in Test winning Squad.Unlike other teams India's bowling attack looks to be aiming 2015 but getting Irfan Pathan back with Bhuvaneshwar and Shami Ahmed will give them a lleft handed experienced bowler in combination.

msdhoni123
on January 19, 2013, 16:28 GMT

india are number 1 in ODI cricket and 3rd in 20/20. So I dont how everyone can accuse them of being a minnow team. Minnow team wouldnt be that much high in the rankings.

samincolumbia
on January 19, 2013, 16:26 GMT

Front foot lunge, like most english fans, has conveniently forgotten his own team's most recent thrashing by the Saffas in their own backyard...HAHA.

Perceptive
on January 19, 2013, 16:24 GMT

Fellow Indian and cricket fans.

There are a number of seemingly bitter and twisted posters on here of all denominations. Calling India minnows; really? Was that the case 2 years ago? And if not is a horrendous run of form for 2 years enough to bestow minnow status?

For those who appreciate cricket and enjoy considered discussion, ignore these people. They are the equivalent of a shouting drunk in a pub. Do not give meaning to their existence by rising to the bait. Let us all enjoy the game and have healthy debate and look forward to the future!

samincolumbia
on January 19, 2013, 16:21 GMT

@Front Foot Lunge - The saffers and the Irish needs to pull up their socks rather than the english players!!

pitch_curator
on January 19, 2013, 16:18 GMT

@ Hearth-UK -- Australia has hardly played any bi-lateral series at home as for many years they used to have this triangular tournament every summer. You should have caught onto that fact when you do not see that the WI of the 80s and early 90s is not one of the teams to have won a "bilateral" ODI series in Australia. unless of course you want to deliberately ignore it.

playitfair
on January 19, 2013, 16:16 GMT

Even though India won the game, a few concerns still remain. 1. The opening pair failing once again and Rahane's continuous failure at the opening slot 2. Indian batsmen getting out to the spin of Tredwell. India needs to work on these weaknesses before the next game.

nilb
on January 19, 2013, 16:15 GMT

Oh no annoying Indian fans are back again!! Has India become the worlds best team suddenly?

nilb
on January 19, 2013, 16:12 GMT

Flat pitch kings are unbeatable in home. No matter which team comes. No much quality seamers a team has doesn't matter. India will fill the team up with 11 flat pitch bashers and win the match. Even 350 is not enough Indian batsmen will chase is down.

wake_up_india
on January 19, 2013, 16:10 GMT

The English squeal suggests that India may finally be waking up. Have some strong coffee and try to stay aware!

moscowman
on January 19, 2013, 16:03 GMT

Guys! I was correct in the failure of Rehane. If he gets bowled regularly in our pitches to Finn, I do not know how he will handle pace in English/Aussie pitches. Drop him,give a chance to Pujara,another flattering to deceive player in my estimate. He is good may be for Tests,but not in the shorter version of the game. He is No WALL.NEVER EVER.No one can ever replace the void let by DraviD,that is a fact.
Well done Dhon!i,Hats off!. Keep up the good work.

skilebow
on January 19, 2013, 16:02 GMT

There's something almost pitiful about someone who spends so much time criticising all the other cricket teams...its almost as if RandyOZ doesn't have much of a life..hmm i could be on to something here....

bobmartin
on January 19, 2013, 16:01 GMT

Funny how a couple of wins energises a nation... A few weeks ago after losing the test series and only a week or so ago after losing the first ODI... it was all doom and disaster in India's world.. Heads were on the chopping block... the team were a load of no-hopers, bring in more youngsters.. etc .. etc... etc..Now.. leading a series 2-1, all is rosy again.

skilebow
on January 19, 2013, 16:00 GMT

Guys don't worry about randyOZ...just like in 2010 he'll be very quiet come July!

ozziespirit
on January 19, 2013, 15:59 GMT

If England's youngsters can make 150 and the best us Aussies can make is 74 against the weakest bowling attack in the world I shudder to think about the forthcoming Ashes series. I admit, England are the way better test team as they have been for years, but England's youngsters out-performing Australia 'A': Just a little embarrassing...

pull_shot
on January 19, 2013, 15:59 GMT

@Herath-UK for last 12 years india never played bi lateral series with aus in aus. please know that india has won CB series vs aus team consists of gilly,haden,ricky,clarke,symonds,lee,hogg in 2008, u srilanka won on young australia that too half strength side and commenting on india please know the facts and comment.

pitch_curator
on January 19, 2013, 15:56 GMT

@ Front-foot-lunge -- At least this "English youngsters" have won a game. the last two senior and SKILLED english sides to come to India have been thrashed 5-0 and 5-0. And an even more senior side that came for world cup was hammered by Bangladesh and lost a world cup quarterfinal by 10 wickets (quite possibly a world record). If I were in the media, I would not book any slots after the 30th over of either innings with this English side. Keep mentioning about the test series for the next 5 years or else you would be reduced to tears by the hiding this English team will get in the ODIs. From next time I will also mention the test series and the series in 70s to console you after every thrashing ( I promise I will not mention about the 90s English test side).

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 15:47 GMT

@Front-Foot-Lunge: Mate, same excuses again and again, try to be more creative.
Did BCCI asked to send "United-11-B" team to India?

on January 19, 2013, 15:40 GMT

Well, the empathy pulled me back into reading, and writing comments here again. Emphatic win is one thing, bullying thrashing is quite the other. The first game in Rajkot was anything but an English win, it was Indian batsmen getting out like headless chickens. Now, i almost feel for this English team now. The thing, very clearly hindering them though, is their desire to play traditional, correct cricket. This English team is certainly the most boring ODI team (barring KP and Finn), and with some amount of diabolical bowling around them, their 'correct' approach towards batting is clearly not giving them dividends. I think Cook's dismissal today is a prime example of that.

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 15:38 GMT

@sweetspot-alright not from two years but last 18 months,fair enough?

GurSinghgur
on January 19, 2013, 15:37 GMT

Here's an idea. Cricket is played with bat and ball, not with passports or birth certuificates. All of those English bloggers who are eager to display nothing but your patriotism, why not go home and leave this space to people interested in cricket? Fact is England got thrashed, and would have been lucky not to, whatever the fate of KP--just look at the scorecard (and the previous ODI one)and the pitiful England tail.

And all of those Indian ones similarly eager, ditto.

Plenty of bloggers do want to talk about cricket. Unclog this space for them

crickketlover
on January 19, 2013, 15:34 GMT

India is showing some consistency - hope it contiues. Good win for Dhoni and India.

Front-Foot-Lunge
on January 19, 2013, 15:33 GMT

Well played India, beating England's Youngsters can't possibly make up for the Test thrashing you received in your own back yard, but at least it's something finally to cheer about. DRS again gets a mention with KP sent on his way by more poor sportsmanship from India when he edged clean air, isn't it funny to see Indian fans get excited over such a series after they were thrashed by a superior England side in the Test matches? Hehe. You could almost say India are going the way of Australia, but I can't possibly imagine any team could sink that low.

Charlie101
on January 19, 2013, 15:26 GMT

We need to make some changes with Butler for Keiswetter and Briggs for Dernbach . We have not lost the series yet so need to arrest the slide and put in a big performance.

@Randyoz - I have now realised that you know very little about cricket and even life . In the street where I live in a small village in Leicestershire we have 3 South Africans within 400 mtrs - they have all moved from SA and made their life over here rather like KP or Trott. Their life and allegiance is with this country (england) rather like the cricket players because they have a great life over here. Rest assured if you try and move here there will besome serious objectors !!!!

pitch_curator
on January 19, 2013, 15:24 GMT

Waiting for the poms to say that one day cricket is worthless and only test cricket is real cricket. These ODIs are just useless games. come on...

Aane_do
on January 19, 2013, 15:19 GMT

i dnt see any class in indian batting line up but i would say english bowling was very poor .. darenbach and fin failed to be a pace attack of england and they have no quality spiners. ........

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 15:19 GMT

@RandyOZ: Mate, 21/9 in tests and 40/9 in ODI, which was that team?

yorkshirematt
on January 19, 2013, 15:15 GMT

Ah that's more like it. The real England are back. The England that can't bowl or bat in India.

on January 19, 2013, 15:15 GMT

Oh god cant stop laughing hearing d comments on lankans... You guys are yet to win a test at india and you guys just lost 4-1 in your backyard against us....

supadupamonk
on January 19, 2013, 15:13 GMT

wow its amazing to see the English fans frustration in this forum....it feels like we have won the world cup again....ROFL....we expect more whining from you guys....

bobmartin
on January 19, 2013, 15:13 GMT

A very nicely engineered finish to the game whereby Yuvraj gets out just in time to let #2 Indian cricket god strike the winning runs on his home ground.... The only major surprise was that he wasn't made man of the match. I wonder what went wrong there then

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 15:11 GMT

Good call@ brusselslion, with big tournament like World cup for ODIs these bilateral series have very less value.That's why ICC should seriously think about arranging more tri series and four nation tournaments which would be more interesting and entertaining for fans.
Nampally-It looks like Pujara was called up as selectors were not sure about form of openers ,but i dont think he fits into plans of our captain for now .So you are correct it would have been better if he was released to play for his Ranji side.Similar situation occurred in ODI series against SL when Rohit Sharma played all the matches and Tiwary was warming the benches.

alarky
on January 19, 2013, 15:10 GMT

Many Cricinfo contributors and the Indian selectors won't agree with me when I say this: "There's no problem with this young Indian batting squad when left on their own to shoulder their responsibilities - they're a very talented bunch and can do the job". They proved this when they avenged these same English men who had embarrassed and disgraced the old Indian guard of Tendulkar and Co in 2011. The problem comes when the "old wines" are put into the new Indian batting bottle; causing youths who were brainwashed with false exaggerations about Tendulkar's deification to lose focus, thinking that he can wave a wand and score all the runs for the team whenever he was needed. To be fair, Dhoni has been India's most complete and best ever batsman in ODIs - he bats in any position and wins for India. Tendulkar has been India's best "Opening Batsman" - period. Their win/lose ratios speak for themselves. So Tendulkar please give them a chance in all formats - they're all better than you now!

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 15:10 GMT

Good call@ brusselslion, with big tournament like World cup for ODIs these bilateral series have very less value.That's why ICC should seriously think about arranging more tri series and four nation tournaments which would be more interesting and entertaining for fans.
Nampally-It looks like Pujara was called up as selectors were not sure about form of openers ,but i dont think he fits into plans of our captain for now .So you are correct it would have been better if he was released to play for his Ranji side.Similar situation occurred in ODI series against SL when Rohit Sharma played all the matches and Tiwary was warming the benches.

Kidderwolf
on January 19, 2013, 15:08 GMT

The Kieswetter situation is getting beyond a joke, how many poor matches does he have to have before England look elsewhere?

Prior isn't being "rested" by England if they are allowing him to take part in the IPL, Davies was never given a chance and Bairstow and Buttler are waiting in the wings!

landl47
on January 19, 2013, 15:03 GMT

Well played, India, and although as an England fan I'm sorry we lost, it was great to see the enthusiasm of the crowd in this new venue. The new bowlers for India, Bhuvi and Shami, have done very well and Jadeja has had an excellent series. It was good to see Kohli rediscover his form, he's one of the best young talents in world cricket and I'm mystified why some Indian 'supporters' were calling for him to be dropped.

For England, just not enough runs. Cook went too far across his stumps to a straight one, then just as in the last game England got to about 1-60 in good time, lost a wicket to a bad decision and fell apart. Only Root and Bresnan of the last 8 batted as though they meant it. Root seems to have a good temperament and although this might not be his best format he keeps fighting.

The bowlers had nothing to work with on a good wicket, but Tredwell bowled well as usual and Dernbach was awful, again as usual. Good win for India, nothing to cheer about for England.

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 15:00 GMT

@ BDforever..a BD fan sud b the last one to comment on how other fan sud behave..yes india lost many in recent times but that does mean they sud stop celebrating when their team wins a game..BD lost 70 odd tests in 70odd matches,may be BD fan sud stop celebrating for the next 20yrs or so to compenasate for all the loses they r getting since 1999..howz that??

sweetspot
on January 19, 2013, 14:58 GMT

@CandidIndian - India struggling in all formats for the last two years? Are you kidding me? The WC was in 2011! Test #1 for a bit after that too!

pitch_curator
on January 19, 2013, 14:51 GMT

@ Front-foot-lunge -- "their hearts are back home". Tomorrow you will say their kits are at home.lol. Are you a script writer or what? Have some courage to accept that your inept team have been crushed for the umpteenth team in India. Now the series will get boring. It would be good if next match some of our players play for England and some of them play for India. That would at least make the match more even.

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 14:47 GMT

Good win for India once again.Initially i was surprised when Dhoni called Eng in,it was certainly a gamble but paid off well.Middle order batsman from Eng were playing for spin which was not there and that lead to their dismissal.Relief for fans as India started losing at home too after losing badly outside.After first match it looked like another failure but good comeback.We should not forget that England is currently no 1 team in ICC rankings and they have beaten Pakistan(who won in India last month) recently in similar conditions at UAE and Aus at home.So the victories against them are very encouraging for our youngsters.However Indian fans should not get carried away by couple of ODI victories , lot of improvement is needed as India have been struggling in all formats from last two years.For Eng wickets of Pietersen and Cook were crucial,one of them should have played long innings to guide struggling middle order, but luckily India got those two precious wickets early.

pitch_curator
on January 19, 2013, 14:43 GMT

@ yorkshiregenius -- more more more !!! we want you to rant more in frustration. While you are at reminding history, why dont u try and remind everyone of India's first tour of England in 50s and tell us how poor they were. Maybe that might assuage some of your hammered ego. BTW how many times have england won the world cup?? How many times have they reached the semis in the last 5 editions? Last 3 visits to India -- scoreline - 5-0, 5-0,4-1 (this time). hahah.. who is the minnow mate?? ROFL.

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 14:41 GMT

@yorkshiregenius: What your "United 11" have achieved after playing for so may years? Only T-20cup and hardly one year on top of test rankings.....

BowlersWinMatches
on January 19, 2013, 14:41 GMT

@brusselslions.18-2 to india. surely thats enough practice in a decade to form a world cup winning team.

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 14:37 GMT

@Herath-UK: India won CB ODI series in 2008 by beating Aus 2-0 in the finals.
It was a triangular series and one club team also played that series.
Effectively that was a bilateral series as club team lost most the matches in that series.

Nampally
on January 19, 2013, 14:34 GMT

@yorkshiregenius: Comments like yours will get Harmony111 into Action again! Sadly, England lost to even "so called Minnows" so badly twice in a row!

cool2cool
on January 19, 2013, 14:31 GMT

@Herath: One country is yet to win a single test in India and Aus and yet to win a bilateral ODI series against India since 1999. I forgot the name, do you remember?

jackiethepen
on January 19, 2013, 14:30 GMT

How can it be said that KP's dismissal did not play a crucial part? Fortune did indeed play a role in this game. At the time KP and Bell were putting together a partnership. The umpire wrongly gave KP out. The loss of such an important and maybe decisive wicket would immediately lift the Indian team and focus their bowling. Bell was out just afterwards to a sharp chance after cutting too finely - how can you possibly say he would have played that ball like that if he and KP had still been batting together or whether it would have even been bowled? Dhoni survived a caught behind at 6 in the previous game. Did not that materially affect the passage of play? If DRS had been used both those wrong decisions would have been overturned. No wonder the Indians don't want it. They would rather take their chances on fortune than fact.

Nampally
on January 19, 2013, 14:29 GMT

Congratulations to India for another win based on good team work. It was disappointing to see England's batting collapse. KP's dismissal due to poor umpiring decision may have had some impact on the total, which is unfortunate. As I have stated before, not without being challenged by British Fans, the England batting is weaker against the left hand orthodox spinner of good quality. Jadeja Proved that weakness once again with 3 for 19 in about 7 overs. It was good to see Kohli getting back into form after a dismal run of 7 failures in short format. His past ODI dominance had led to India putting together a long winning streak. His failures caused bad losses against Pakistan in recent ODI's where he totalled just 13 runs in 3 ODI's. Pujara's benching reflected badly on Dhoni's inflexible & irrational selection. I do hope Pujara makes himself unavailable for the last 2 ODI's so that he can play in the Ranji Finals for his State. He is far too talented to be wasting his life on the Bench!.

Bruisers
on January 19, 2013, 14:29 GMT

@Solid_Snake - FYI, Cook is also a Test batsman. He has played more Tests than ODIs, yet he is the best ODI batsman in England.

BDforever
on January 19, 2013, 14:27 GMT

Forget for a moment how horribly they lost almost all series they played recently(OK). Assume they didn't play any of those series(OK). Only consider this ODI series(OK). They lost 1st ODI(as expected). Then just winning 2 ODIs against England B team gives them a feeling like they won a world( how come?). What does it really say? (It says they have the mentality of minnows. That's something BD had 10 years ago but no longer they have it. Since flat track bullies have become minnows now their fans also have minnows' mentality). So why do flat track bullies still concentrate on cricket? (who knows)

Bruisers
on January 19, 2013, 14:25 GMT

@yorkshiregenius - And the GREAT England team has lost to these minnows 6-1 in 2006, 5-0 in 2008, 5-0 in 2011 and it looks like 4-1 this year. Not to forget the losses England have suffered at the hands of Bangladesh and Ireland too a couple of years back! Oh yeah, add Netherlands to that list as well!! What a genius.. #respect :D Cricinfo pls publish :)

glancedream
on January 19, 2013, 14:23 GMT

yorkshire genius@ minnows are those who has never won any big tournament & you (england) producer of cricket had never won any big tournament accept that t20 worldcup so its better you just check the statistic of your cricket rather than calling others as minnows and i can understand your feeling as out of 100 only once you got chance to comment otherwise always hiding your faces after the defeats. as you can check all my comments before the match, i had told that India will win 4-1.so dear check that out tables had turn you are not defeated but defeated with bigger margins.....

andrew27994
on January 19, 2013, 14:12 GMT

Fantastic bowling effort from India and the man who impressed me most was Jadeja who unlike Ashwin concentrates on bowling more accurately than on variations. That's why he has got more wickets than Ashwin in this series.

England seriously need to make some changes in their batting lineup. Bring Trott back at No.3 and include Jos Buttler in the next match. He is a very highly rated batsman in limited overs cricket for England and could be a destructive force on these flat pitches. Also I would like to see Root switching positions with Pietersen in order to shield their most destructive batsman for the latter half of the innings.

brusselslion
on January 19, 2013, 14:07 GMT

Another big win for India; well played. My view is that the only important thing in ODI cricket is to win the World Cup so, on that basis, losing this series 1-4 as seems likely now, doesn't matter that much in the big scheme of things. Having said that, being beaten so heavily in the last 2 matches could hardly have been part of the 'Master Plan' (if it exists?). The worrying thing is that only 2 players have performed consistently well (Tredwell & Finn); two have been awlful and should be put off to grass now (Kiesweiter & Dernbach); the rest have been inconsistent and should be playing for their places and if they don't perform in the last 2 matches plus the NZ matches (h/a) then that should be the end of them (yes, KP & Morgan included). To have any chance at the next World Cup, the squad needs to be settled and playing reasonably well by summer 2014. Hand on heart, do any England fans see this current squad even getting to the World Cup semis, let alone winning it?

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 14:04 GMT

@ herath -- dont miss this fact that sl have never won single test in india and aus , two nations with biggest crowds. on this account it proves sl are minnows in tests infront of giants like india and aus and they break under pressure infront of massive hostile crowds , also 4-1 drubbing in sl(home conditions) in a bilateral series against india prove without doubt who stand where in odis, not to forget 330 in 36 overs and wc final drubbing by dhoni , gambhir and co.

matchfixerpkn
on January 19, 2013, 14:01 GMT

haha..lot of srilnakan fans come here to show their frastratoin for losing indian badly for last 2 years..
well played india..same england must look some changes ...

supadupamonk
on January 19, 2013, 13:59 GMT

Dhoni should give chance to Pujara top the order and rest Rahane for a while...what was Gambhir thinking he always plays an unnecessary shot and gets out and pushes his team in trouble...its high time that Ind team start luking at a new opening pair and a genuine spinner...for god sake he should get rid of Ashwin...

matchfixerpkn
on January 19, 2013, 13:58 GMT

Sinhya , y you woried on ohter teams results..look...yoiur just won only 2 mathces agianst C team of australia ..lol after 2 whitewash...
i belive ..yoi have not forgottern last years malingas cry as 90 runs,80 runs in 10 voers ...

jmcilhinney
on January 19, 2013, 13:56 GMT

I expected India to win this series but my hope was that England would be competitive. The first game suggested that they would be at least that but the last two games have played out all too familiar patterns. I certainly can't hold it against the bowlers on this occasion as there just wasn't any pressure on the batsmen due to the small target. KP's dismissal didn't help but these things happen and it's certainly not an excuse for such a poor return. Root looked OK under the circumstances and Tredwell held his end up again, but not much more positive to be taken from an England standpoint. We could talk about England resting players but the only batsman on that list is Trott and he certainly wouldn't have been the one to salvage this debacle. They've shown that they can do it but once every now and again will not cut it. I don't really see that it was Indian conditions to blame either. It was just good bowling and poor batting. It's like they've left their confidence at home... again!

matchfixerpkn
on January 19, 2013, 13:56 GMT

Sinhya..sorry..are you not feeling ashamed to consider malinga who avarage 90 rns/10 over agianst last 2 years ..as best bowler lol...austrlaia gifted yo 2 mathce by culb level team ..that dousesnt mean srilankan is better than australia

TheCricketEmpireStrikesBack
on January 19, 2013, 13:54 GMT

Another match, another ritualistic whipping for England. Immensely enjoyable.

Also enjoyable are the wonderful excuses for the dire batting, bowling and fielding from their fans:
"It's only a warm-up match" (not any more)
"Their hearts are back in England" (Oh bless!)
"It's the umpires"
"It's because there's no DRS"
"I predicted this, so that make's it alright"
"It's all a cunning plan to win the next World Cup"......

and my favourite: "It's too cold".

All said without a hint of irony. How do they do it?

Herath-UK
on January 19, 2013, 13:54 GMT

I was amazed to hear from the Australian press that only SA,Pak & Sri Lanka have won a bilateral ODI series in Aus & if Sri Lanka win this series that will be a never ever before win.It confirm the fact these three countries only have good bowling units,at least on that account.Something indian team should plan to win as their goal next time around.
Ranil Herath - Kent

yorkshiregenius
on January 19, 2013, 13:53 GMT

Finally minnows got some relief just for few days though. See their recent achievements. 1) 4-0 test series thrashing in Aus, 2) Tri -series knockout in Aus, 3) Asia cup knockout in Bangladesh, 4) T20 WC knockout in SL, 5) ODI thrashing v Pakistan at home , 6) Test series thrashing v England at home. I'm not going to ask their preference out of all above great achievements because I know they have something else that they love more than any of above achievements. "8-0 series thrashing (4- tests, 3 ODIs & 1 T20) in England with zero wins....!!!" Since nobody has achieved anything like that they might still have the pride of it... ROFLOL.. Couple of ODIs won't make minnow a whale

Herath-UK
on January 19, 2013, 13:49 GMT

I was amazed to hear from the Australian press that only SA,Pak & Sri Lanka have won a bilateral ODI series in Aus & if Sri Lanka win this series that will be a never ever before win.It confirm the fact these three countries only have good bowling units,at least on that account.Something indian team should plan to win as their goal next time around.
Ranil Herath - Kent

warneneverchuck
on January 19, 2013, 13:46 GMT

SL fans first win at least one test in India and then give your opinion

Htc-Android
on January 19, 2013, 13:44 GMT

Well played india. keep up the good work.

Mustafiz111
on January 19, 2013, 13:44 GMT

now i think that india will win the series 4-1.kohli back jn form,gud signs for india.

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 13:43 GMT

well done yuvi kohli and bhuvi , also sir ravindra should be made nominated mp in rajya sabha for his efforts, india thrashed england as ed by urs truely and poms have no where to hide from some deserved indian bashing, long may it continue. dhoni is back, long live dhoni

bridgefort
on January 19, 2013, 13:42 GMT

Congrats India. If anything, this was an even more comprehensive thrashing than the last one. Aside from Kohli's return, India's bowlers are really starting to stand out. I cannot say as an English fan that we have any edge in the ODI bowling department right now.

I was sorely disappointed with our performance here. Our batsmen can certainly do a lot better. There isn't one positive I can take out of this, barring Root. Even in this tiny chase, Dernbach was capable of being the most expensive bowler. We need some real shake-up here. Dernbach just has to go. Kieswetter has to go.

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 13:38 GMT

leaving aside all the fighting between indian,english and aus fan(RandyOZ) and few lankan fans in between I am really impressed with Tredwell,he's a terrific find for england,he may not exceptional turn but he's very honest with his limitation and bowls to his field and so accurate with his line and length..and i m surprised how Patel,Kiewsetter r still in the team??england has beaten india in test series and showed quality players,so u dont need bit and piece players for ODI's,i m sure england has enough quality players for all the formats...

letsgoproteas
on January 19, 2013, 13:37 GMT

I say it again... NZ are going to beat England

corzaNZ
on January 19, 2013, 13:34 GMT

You indian fans are unbelievable, after you lose you scream for all these changes and now you win and oh we are better than everyone else we beat you back then blah blah blah. Grow up a bit aye your time will come!

Jaffa79
on January 19, 2013, 13:31 GMT

Dreadful display by England. Getting out to non turning straight balls is a cardinal sin. Well played to India; no excuses, India played much better and that Kumar looks a good prospect. All this talk of rotation or playing 'B' teams is nonsense: if you rest players and get rolled then that is your fault. England need to get Kieswetter and Dernbach out of the side asap.

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 13:26 GMT

@richardror:
For all the nasty stuff some ppl send here, you took it to a new level for picking on the Ind umpire who gave the 4 as 6. Btw, what do you have to say for those shockers from Eng umpire Mark Benson in the Sydney Test?

And btw, India's problem with the Sydney Test or otherwise is with poor umpiring, not with the nationality of umpires. You hit a new low when you call the umpires as INDIAN Umpires. A real new low this from you....

Silverbails
on January 19, 2013, 13:24 GMT

Let's TRY and NOT get TOO excited by a couple of Indian ODI wins. One swallow doesn't make summer, as I've said before. This Indian outfit STILL need to display a lot more winning ways, before we can even think that they've actually turned the ODI corner!! However, the fundamental weaknesses of the side STILL remain insofar as the Test side goes, which is ALL that surely matters in the long-term?!?! Once the BCCI has successfully addressed this, then I think the Indian Team will be on the way back, at long last...!!! And, they will urgently need to address their lamentable form overseas, as a starting point in all of this....

AMAZINGFAN
on January 19, 2013, 13:18 GMT

@Sinhya,malinga and kula???? have u forgot the beating that ur team received last year where ind team literally whitewashed ur sl team....just look at malinga's stats against ind and then talk...if u thought eng bowlers wud bowl out ind under 100, u r wrong mate because ind is not sl(ur team gets bowled out for 40odd,remember sa series and struggle to get even 70)...cricinfo pls publish

Herath-UK
on January 19, 2013, 13:18 GMT

Good win by the indians but more emotional stuff of their delight at the fall of Pierterson & Dhoni's winning run.I think Patel's contribution should be reviewed
& Eng should plan a fight back.
Ranil Herath - Kent

on January 19, 2013, 13:15 GMT

What on earth is England thinking?

It is no surprise that the Indian batsmen are having a nice old time of it. Where are the England spinners who won the Test series for them?

The makeup of the England team might be right for the Oval but it is quite questionable for Indian pitches and the Indian Curators know it!

sipunjohn
on January 19, 2013, 13:15 GMT

well nice to see the jealousyness of fans around the world...the much i see them getting jealous more i am getting proud of india....guys u must be forgooton that we are the champ of odi..so better dnt mess with us... lol to other fans

electric_loco_WAP4
on January 19, 2013, 13:15 GMT

So.. England's 'unbeatable' record in subcont continues...after thrashings from Irish
and bangladesh in WC and a 2-20 record in series in Ind over past few series.... way
to go ...living upto their mediocre standing. Hope certain Eng fans realise the fact abt their team...a cold fact!

pull_shot
on January 19, 2013, 13:14 GMT

at-last india has won back to back matches and kohli finds some form

BowlersWinMatches
on January 19, 2013, 13:08 GMT

Not sure which is the worst odi team, Australia or England. Its a tie , maybe. Even bangladesh can beat these teams. England without Kp( SA)cannot compete, its a fact, aussies had their moments cant see them winning any more trophies.

maf17
on January 19, 2013, 13:07 GMT

VillageBlacksmith, how do you figure that was the England B team? It had Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Bresnna, Root, Patel , Bresnan & Finn who all played in the Test series. Doesnt seem much like a B team to me. Face it, your best team got flogged, deal with it.

Back-Foot-Bulge
on January 19, 2013, 13:06 GMT

@jb633..I agree with you. ICC should definitely re look at the way they are scheduling matches atm. Tests should only be played only among Eng,Aus and RSA atm and ODI should be played by the rest as that is what they are respectively good at.T20's... hmm... i think it is best left to those cricket leagues.

oze13
on January 19, 2013, 13:04 GMT

Patel said it was tough winning matches in India. It's obviously too tough for him and one or two others.

on January 19, 2013, 13:00 GMT

@Sinhya firepower of Malinga and kula??? have you forgotten the nuclear attacks of kohli on him with 5 consecutive fours and overall indian batsmen thrashing him for 7 and 8 runs in 10 overs in country like Australia which are quite helpful for fast bowlers and chasing 320 in 36 overs .As an indian fan if my team needs 300 in odi i would happily prefer your bowling attack in opposition rather than England's.

womenlovecricket
on January 19, 2013, 12:56 GMT

@RandyOz: at least England nor India got all out for 74 runs in ODI. The only country who is in trouble is Australia since M. Hussey retired everyone can see that the other Australian players are not that talented. Mike Hussey has single handedly given Oz wins in the past and now that he is gone - Australia is gone as well.

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 12:55 GMT

@RandyOZ i heard your team is struggling to get past 100 now a days.

on January 19, 2013, 12:52 GMT

And seriously BCCI need to think about the DRS..despite being an indian fan I have to say indian umpires are terrible.Secondly when good players like KP gets out by incorrect decision it just doesn't feel right he is a class player and yes i want to see him get out for my team's prospect but not in this way.Also some indian batsmen have suffered with bad umpiring too.

on January 19, 2013, 12:51 GMT

@ RandyOZ I don't know what part of world or universe you are living in to proclaim India and England the two worst sides in the world. India The World Champions Ranked 2 and England Ranked 3, and you call them the worst sides? My research suggests Netherlands and Kenya are the two worst sides in the World, no offense to Netherlands or Kenya.

NP_NY
on January 19, 2013, 12:48 GMT

Nice all-round performance India. Unlike Srilanka who struggled to make 78 to win against Aus yesterday, India showed how to sensibly chase a low total. Looks like finally India has a decent opening bowling attack. If these guys can bowl so well in Indian conditions, I am sure they can do better on seaming wickets in England, SA and Aus.

Vijay_P_S
on January 19, 2013, 12:48 GMT

What is the logic in giving a batsman MoM when it is clearly the blowers that won the match?

awenobuniper
on January 19, 2013, 12:47 GMT

Yeah Overall superb cricket played by India.At the new stadium Indians Marked their win n took the series lead.Fantastic stadium and fabulous turn out.Well Played Boys n make sure that we win the series by 4-1 margin.

supadupamonk
on January 19, 2013, 12:47 GMT

@ RandyOZ: lol......literally the real two minnows played yesterday one scored 74 and other almost made a mess to achieve it...lol

screamingeagle
on January 19, 2013, 12:46 GMT

@richardror, i did read something about the term originating from pomegranate, a fairly insignificant fruit in Australia. I do appreciate that the insignificant part refers to both the fruit and the '-'. Or maybe you prefer lemonheads? Anyway, i do not believe 'you' know anything about umpiring anyway, given the way you choose to highlight only the ones which went against England.

realfan
on January 19, 2013, 12:45 GMT

i like joe root batting... he looks promising for england.... we should see him often i think......

on January 19, 2013, 12:44 GMT

@randyoz yeah and AUS is the best side at the momemt. They played wonderfully to make 74 .LOL

VillageBlacksmith
on January 19, 2013, 12:43 GMT

aussie A team bowled out for 74 at home, Eng B team bowled out for 150 away, Eng B team obv twice as good as the crims A team

screamingeagle
on January 19, 2013, 12:39 GMT

@RandyOz, worst side? Well, that would also include the 'mighty?' aussies as well, going by their brilliant failures recently.

supadupamonk
on January 19, 2013, 12:38 GMT

@Sinhya: two wins in one days and you forgot the thrashing u received in test series.and from Ind team....lol....be ready for the next thrashing from Aussies next match....

Fijicricket
on January 19, 2013, 12:36 GMT

@Randyoz- if this are the two worstsides, what do you call Austalia who is being toyed around by minnows Srilanka?

premclement
on January 19, 2013, 12:35 GMT

@GeeradLK,
If India, who won the current world champions, are minnows, when what do you call England, who has never won a world cup? I guess worse than minnows :-O

on January 19, 2013, 12:31 GMT

@randyoz funny its coming from a fan whose team isn't ranked even in the top odi sides and coming for the two teams continuously shuffling in top 3 odi spots.Or did u forget Australia's last match score.Come on mate care for your own team because if India and england are minnows then currently Australia doesn't even qualify to play to ODI's with scores like 40/9 :D

The_bowlers_Holding
on January 19, 2013, 12:29 GMT

I think that score is modest in T20, in 50 overs it is pitiful, Harmony111 you may be a terrible bore but you are right in that India are far superior to England in ODI's in India.

realfan
on January 19, 2013, 12:29 GMT

@richardror no umpire will ask for a third umpire review for 4 or 6...... every one will give decision first and then they go upstairs.....

that Harmony 111 guy is right... you must be working in some comedy show or may be you are a comedian......

RandyOZ
on January 19, 2013, 12:28 GMT

The inevitable slide for England continues. The so-called "new wave" of South Africans, namely Meaker, Kieswetter, Lumb and Dernbach, are absolutely toothless so it is back to South Africa for more poaching.

realfan
on January 19, 2013, 12:25 GMT

good to see Virat kohli back to his best.... delight to watch when he plays these drives through onside and offside... hope he will continue this form forever

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 12:23 GMT

@RandyOZ..aftre being bundled out for 74 yesterday u sud be the last one to call england or india as the worst side :D

jb633
on January 19, 2013, 12:19 GMT

We are actually shortchanging the Indian public here. I am not that interested in ODI cricket but I can't see what is the point in playing in a series in which you rest all your best players. India are a good ODI outfit at home and this is men vs boys. If England had a full XI, I would still expect India to win the series but it would at least be competitive and interesting. ODI cricket should be about entertainment and I am not sure any cricket fan the world is enjoying ODI cricket any more. ENG, AUS, SA are all resting players and it is completley diminshing any credibility the ODI format has. The ICC seriously needs to considerscheduling or more and more ODI series will become like second XI cricket. I cannot understand what they are thinking for the future of circket sometimes.

RandyOZ
on January 19, 2013, 12:16 GMT

Literally the two worst sides in ODI cricket, slogging it out on another featherbed, and England still get rolled for 150 odd. The inevitable slide continues!!

R_U_4_REAL_NICK
on January 19, 2013, 12:15 GMT

KP and Morgan are the Hughes and Warner of Australia. One decent knock every 5 or so games seems to keep them in teams for eternity and maintain a good fan-base. The results these past 3 games will be typical for England now for the next year.

MEHATELK
on January 19, 2013, 12:11 GMT

INDIANs can bat only in flat tracks so called roads but england players can not bat even in roads like pitches.

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 12:06 GMT

@richardror: Anything else here may be hilarious or not but we do find your comments a good deal hilarious. Let me guess, you work at Comedy Central, right?

maddy20
on January 19, 2013, 12:04 GMT

@ GerrardLK
Show me a minnow that has won 3 worldcups, held the no.1 ranking in tests for 2 and half years. Seriously you Lankan pipsqueaks should look at your own team first! For a team that has not won a single test in Aus, India in nearly 40 years, won 1 in eng, and 1 in SA etc., its hilarious that their fans think they are a great test team. And Yeah Sinhya your spectacular prediction was darn accurate, India crusing towards victory with over 20 overs to spare!

kristee
on January 19, 2013, 12:03 GMT

So the crowd noise is deceiving the umpires a bit selectively. BCCI must be very clever to anticipate this. Anyway the relief is that the actual test somehow survived their designs.

MEHATELK
on January 19, 2013, 12:02 GMT

@ GerrardLK, YOU are right , thats why sl also canot win a single test match in australia an india.

coolwind2000
on January 19, 2013, 12:00 GMT

@GerrardLK....what you don't understand is that all Indian fans will always support the Indian cricket team irrespective of whether they win or lose just like you support your football team inspite of their repeated poor performances. If that hurts you and your people , it's your problem not ours....

skilebow
on January 19, 2013, 11:55 GMT

Well played India but from an england point of view i hope these youngsters learn from days like this. For the next game we have got to play Buttler and Meaker

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 11:54 GMT

@Akshita29:

No Akshita you did not get my point. I am not Anti-DRS nor am I Anti-Technloogy.

What I wanted to bring out was that we should focus on solving the problem instead of insisting that a certain solution is the only/best way to solve that problem.

DRS is indeed helpful in helping batsmen like KP or Yuvi. But when the same help can be provided by using the existing tools then why should such an expensive system like DRS be used? If you have to travel a distance of 2 km will you rather take your car out or your bike out assuming it wasn't raining? And think of it, DRS after all its costs is not perfect and has plenty of area of doubt.

I want ICC to allow the batsmen/fielding side to ask for a simple referral when they are not satisfied but in nearly all cases existing tools should suffice and that will come at zero extra costs.

richardror
on January 19, 2013, 11:53 GMT

Quite frankly disgusted with the Indian umpires. First given batsmen incorrectly out or not out, then signalling 6 when it was clearly a 4, having to be corrected. The two runs wouldn't make a difference however its just the non-caring aspect, where any other umpire would ask for a 3rd umpire verdict.

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 11:30 GMT

@richardror...i find it hilarious when u come here every time with excuses,u remember dhoni's thick edge but ignores yuvraj's case,so stop cherry picking my friend bcoz u r sounding very biased with passing time....its better if u question ur remaining 9 batsman who let u down in this match and also in last match

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 11:22 GMT

@Harmony111 I get ur point . Even with DRS or even with kp Scoring a century India could have won . But No DRS does not make a gud viewing . Drs gives a fair chance to a batsman who is given out wrongly and to a bowler who thinks he is denied a wicket . As long as BCCI doesnot take DRS it would always remain a hot topic for argument . England batted poorly and Ind bowled really well . Its obvious . Bt No DRS would always remain a discussion topic.

Rajesh_india_1990
on January 19, 2013, 11:19 GMT

i dont know why the English and Australian fans are always claiming Indian pitches as roads...their team are not even crossing 200 on most occasions in odis ...

GerrardLK
on January 19, 2013, 11:18 GMT

History has proved that Minnows have never won Test matches. But once in blue moon they can win in shorter formats like ODIs & T20s. So India winning here doesn't mean they're a good team. They are still minnows which is a bitter truth for their fans.

JG2704
on January 19, 2013, 11:15 GMT

@ ADB1 on (January 19 2013, 10:03 AM GMT) I'd be surprised if none of our fans will cite this but I do find it quite amusing that SherjilIslam on (January 19 2013, 10:03 AM GMT) says "I know, all England fans will now cry for the one wrong decision which KP got" which is the exact opposite. TBH re Dhoni in the last game , Yuvi got a bad one and he is just as dangerous when in full flow so who's to say he would not have done similar

@ yorkshire-86 on (January 19 2013, 10:12 AM GMT) Yes but Patel was probably our best performer in the 1st 2 games. No one has batted well for Eng in these last 2 and guys like KP and Morgan seem immune from criticism when they fail because once in a while they'll play a genius inns

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 11:10 GMT

England should have given Hales and Buttler chance . They got all the strokes for ODI game . Good thing for India is Jadeja is doing well than expected .

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 11:05 GMT

Its true England is overdependant on Kp n cook . Bt next champions trophy and WC wont be played at Subcontinent . England should not worry much about this performance. Bt it's real important for India just for their confidence . Any win is win . Hopefully India take some momentum into the all important test series against the Aussies .

JG2704
on January 19, 2013, 11:03 GMT

I might be proven wrong by our pace attack but even before our batsmen crumbled I was not happy with the side. It seems the selectors are doing similar things in ODIs (continuing with out of form players) rather than keeping players on their toes more by bringing in the better form players. As I type we're(150-8) not going to have any sort of total to defend anyway but to me bringing Bresnan (despite a comparative better inns today) for Woakes is a backwards step.We don't have many options out there (bowling or batting) but for the last 2 matches Jos must come in (prob as WK for Craig or even for Morgan who has fired rarely in the last year or so). Briggs must come in the side too and maybe Meaker should be given a go too. If you're not going to try these guys when you're struggling then when?

jb633
on January 19, 2013, 11:03 GMT

I hope if we have learnt anything from these two games that both Derbach and Kieswetter should never play international cricket every again. They are proven failures.

richardror
on January 19, 2013, 11:02 GMT

Once more, Indian umpires are the downfall of England. Dhoni's thick edge given not out last time, and this time KP given out when he was starting to look threatening. P.S. does anyone else find it hilarious when Indians, and not Australians call English people poms? @gsingh7 you don't even know the meaning of the word I bet, or where it originates from!

AMAZINGFAN
on January 19, 2013, 10:53 GMT

poor performance from eng.....if they don't care abt odis then they shudn't play any odis.....and we will have excuses from eng fans as their team is not performing well at the moment....

Htc-Baseball
on January 19, 2013, 10:41 GMT

One rare lethargic failure from eng batsmen and indian fans are happy again, lets see what they say after eng bowl them out for 100, eng bowlers may not have the firepower of malinga and kula like we have but still they are effective against this batting

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 10:37 GMT

So inevitably KP's dismissal is the moot point here. And it is linked to DRS and the supposed stubbornness of BCCI in not saying yes to it even though it will help in eliminating such howlers.

In this match there is no DRS. In this series there is no DRS. Yet, we all know that Bell was lucky in the 7th over in 1st ODI, we know that Yuvi was unlucky & Dhoni's case had hardly any clinching evidence (Snicko might have been his bat brushing his pad/shoe). KP was certainly unlucky though he did look back as if he'd edged it.

My question is, with no DRS to help us, how do we know these Outs/Not-Outs were wrong? Anyone?

We know they were wrong cos we used much simpler tools available to us. Replays, slo-mo footage, 3rd umpire's assistance etc. Note that the Snicko in this case wasn't of much use (though I am a fan of it).

Thus, it is clear that DRS is an overkill and its costs don't justify its plus's.

Reminds me of the NASA space-pen vs Russian Pencil story.

SurlyCynic
on January 19, 2013, 10:32 GMT

Another genius performance under Ashley Giles. At least a coach can't completely remove batting talent so they will fire occasionally and win the odd game. But the team as a whole will continue to look clueless.

Harmony111
on January 19, 2013, 10:26 GMT

@SherjilIslam:

You shud try your hand in astrology, but you shud cut your predictions by half to be more accurate :-p

While KP was unlucky to go that way but I am sure a large no of comments will now focus on his dismissal rather than the rest 9 wickets.

And regarding Eng batting, TBH I am quite surprised at the way they are batting. Most Ind fans don't have much faith in our bowling and we make a lot of fun of it ourselves. What do we have? 2 rookies & 2 old rookies & 2 half all-rounders. I am really really surprised at the way Eng batted today. Agreed that the last match had chasing pressure but today was the best chance for Eng. And I am saying this in all sincerity, I thought Eng would score 250-260.

I guess this just shows how teams get into a groove/hole and then inertia takes over - Inertia of motion & Inertia at rest.

Eng cud still win today and later but so far I am not exactly happy at this. This tells Ind nothing about us - or may be we auto-criticize too much?

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 10:23 GMT

@ ffl--- 155 all out does show that this team will win wc back to back, no?? if 155 all out is mediocre bowling guess 285 on slow wicket is wc winning bowling from english bowlers

No DRS means better side need not win. All the other cricket board should join together and force BCCI to accept DRS. DRS may not be fool proof now but its a step in the right direction. Many obvious umpiring errors can be eliminated. Let the umpire decision stand on doubtful ones.

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 10:14 GMT

new low for poms, after getting out for third lowest total vs india , bettering the previous low 3 days ago. they got inspired from ashes buddies and surrendered meekly , although on foreign soil , english authorities must make dernback bresnan , keiswetter, patel , bell , morgan and finn permanent members of english team , they will win them maiden wc.also ishant should go to bangla team , though it wud be tough for him to displace their "quality" bowlers. logic says thaT english team will touch new low in mohali as it is only green top in india where 200 is a winning total and english bowlers like finn and dernback are cannon fodder for indian big guns

yorkshire-86
on January 19, 2013, 10:12 GMT

Yet again a failure from Samit Patel...

ADB1
on January 19, 2013, 10:03 GMT

@JG2704: I don't think any England fans will claim the KP decision cost England the match. He might have got out next ball. It's different to last game's Dhoni decision,because he went on to top score and with Jadeja, scored a deluge of runs in the last ten overs that stunned England.

Good to see some more reasonable Indian fans on here though, calling for DRS because in this case, it MAY have robbed them of a show from one of their favourite OS players, and (I presume) a competitive game. Maybe not all Indian fans are like gsingh7, after all.

SherjilIslam
on January 19, 2013, 10:03 GMT

I know, all England fans will now cry for the one wrong decision which KP got.In no case i am defending the stubborn attitude of BCCI of not opting for the DRS, but the fact of the matter is England is too much dependent on KP and cook.And if this continues, their ODI performance will never going to be improved.
Also i don't understand the logic behind resting swan,anderson, and panesar at the same time knowing how better they have performed in the test series.
So, for all the England fans, i would only suggest, ask your board to change the strategy of resting too many players at the same time, or else accept the defeats coming your way.

jmcilhinney
on January 19, 2013, 10:01 GMT

England batted well in their innings in the first game but the rest of this series has resembled the last. While anything can happen, this game is pretty much in the bag for India but it's important that England perform better with the ball than in the last two games to at least take something from it. They need to improve markedly with both bat and ball and there's no time like the present to show that improvement with the ball.

on January 19, 2013, 10:01 GMT

I don't like include Pujara/Rohit at cost of injury to any top order batsman which are already struggling. dont select them for next odi s let'm play Ranji finals where they get batting practice for next test series against Australia

Back-Foot-Bulge
on January 19, 2013, 10:01 GMT

I feel odd to say this but it indeed is a game changer.When i think of England's ODI team the only person who comes to my mind is KP.There's hardly any one else's in the batting dept apart from a few flashes from the others.This is not healthy for the game as it makes the ODI's one sided. I think BCCI should re look in their DRS stance.

Front-Foot-Lunge
on January 19, 2013, 9:55 GMT

England's youngsters threw their wickets away against mediocre bowling. Their hearts really are back in England right now aren't they? Players like Root have shown that this young team will be competitive in the future.

CrICkeeet
on January 19, 2013, 9:44 GMT

INDIA is afraid 2 use DRS bcz if dey use it then they can get d FACILITIES of WRONG DECISIONS almost in evry match!

Cpt.Meanster
on January 19, 2013, 9:38 GMT

Apart from the Pietersen dismissal, the rest of the batting was PATHETIC. So England cannot offer an excuse that Pietersen's dismissal cost them big time. Yes, he's a star player and a price wicket, but cricket is played by 11 men from each team. Well bowled India !!! Now time to wrap up this game by scoring 156.

JG2704
on January 19, 2013, 9:34 GMT

Re the comms which will inevitably come from the KP dismissal , I agree there should be DRS but the likelihood is that KP would have played a loose shot at some point and got out anyway so I hope that we don't get too many comms saying it was a game changer and that those comms aren't associated with England fans as a whole

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 9:31 GMT

The problem here is that Kp is the only batsman who could have taken the game away from India. If likes of kieswetter ,patel, root etc are even given 2 or 3 lives they cant bother India much (the 1st match was an exception). Gud bowling from India though. Jadeja looks real good again . Hate to see my fav KP miss out again . But an Indian win would be real pleasing. Hopefully get to enjoy at least one Gud innings from Kp in the series.

Krishnahk86
on January 19, 2013, 9:18 GMT

Please remember that there is more than 1 player in the team. If not KP then someone else should stand up and perform. But ofcourse, to critisize is our birthright!

spiritwithin
on January 19, 2013, 8:50 GMT

BCCI need to introduce DRS now,they cant use any more excuse now,most indian fans wants DRS but surprisingly BCCI is unwilling to d that,no technology is 100% perfect but when used with Upmires can reduce many howlers....

gsingh7
on January 19, 2013, 8:43 GMT

lol at english fans goading aus other day, forgetting ur whiping days are not far away , enjoy the royal thrashings in ranchi and in coming days at mohali(my hometown)

Jits_SRTian
on January 19, 2013, 8:40 GMT

@Sugath.. I dont like the way you seem to imply that India by not opting for DRS is resorting to cheating. Being anti India is one but bad logic is a weakness you should overcome else it could affect other sphere of ones life adversely. :). How does not oping to cheating as you seem to imply. Batsmen from both sides get reprieves or bad decisions. I suggest you look at the past history when India used DRS and still got howlers. I think DRS will still have human errors although it is still a step in the right direction.

Jaffa79
on January 19, 2013, 8:37 GMT

Kieswetter has to go. Average keeper and he is just a one dimensional slogger with no variety or skill to his batting. I'd put Bairstow, Buttler, Prior, Davies and Mustard all way above him. It is not as if we don't have alternatives!

Hash_Tag
on January 19, 2013, 8:28 GMT

Pujara still warming the bench..... But. Bad decision for KP so that will probably be the game. I agree with other posters here. I can't believe some of the umpiring in this series which has deprived us watching fine quality batting on both sides. I would rather win fair and square than by crucial umpiring calls. I think we will win this now - but it will be a tainted win.

QingdaoXI
on January 19, 2013, 8:20 GMT

It is not KP has only suffer, Indian batsmen too suffer because of absence of DRS , it makes things even.

Sugath
on January 19, 2013, 7:53 GMT

This is not the way for Indian Cricket to move forward. ODI, T20 are very competitive and could go down to the wire. So one bad decision can upset the apple cart. That is why you must have DRS. But unfortunately India of all the countries is opposed when playing in India. Already one bad decision in giving a not out batsman out due no DRS. This is not the way to win, not at all costs. You must win in a fair play. No wonder when India play overseas they are so helpless.
India, please accept DRS just like others so that there will be fair play for both teams. Do hope saner council will prevail

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 7:45 GMT

I love to see Kp bat . Kp hit his pad and then the ball brushed the trousers 2 give 2 sounds . A good innings from Kp would have made the match interesting . Now its a one way traffic. Real poor umpiring . Have to say .

Solid_Snake
on January 19, 2013, 7:44 GMT

Pujara lol..He is a test batman..Look at his strike rate..I wonder why every Indian fan is asking Selectors to Let Pujara in..

mzm149
on January 19, 2013, 7:42 GMT

Pietersen was not out ... that was wrong decision

SherjilIslam
on January 19, 2013, 7:08 GMT

I think England would struggle to reach 300 as Shami Ahmad had already got Cook and England are not scoring above 3 for the first 10 overs.

SP68
on January 19, 2013, 6:31 GMT

Do not understand why Pujara is still sitting on bench. He will also become rusty like Rahane. Probably he should wait for somebody to get injured in the team so that he will be in the playing XI

Nampally
on January 19, 2013, 23:59 GMT

I hope England get some reinforcements in the next 2 ODI's. They need Prior, Trott & Panesar. Patel's heroics aided by poor bowling by Ishant helped England eke out a close win in the first ODI. But Seamers Finn, Dernbach & Bresnan have done a poor job in the first 3 ODI's so far. Indian seamers are not as pacy but apart from Ishant, Kumar & Shami are pretty accurate. It is Jadeja who has been doing the damage with his LH spinners. Fortunately for Dhoni & India, Kohli has finally showed up! He was the mainstay of India in the Past ODI's until he started his failures vs. Pakistan. India had a chance to reinforce their XI but consistent dropping of Pujara has not helped. The openers are still failing badly.At least their bowling is getting steadier. Both the teams still have lot of problems. Let us see how they cope in the last 2 ODI's.

CandidIndian
on January 19, 2013, 14:44 GMT

Good win for India once again.Initially i was surprised when Dhoni called Eng in,it was certainly a gamble but paid off well.Middle order batsman from Eng were playing for spin which was not there and that lead to their dismissal.Relief for fans as India started losing at home too after losing badly outside.After first match it looked like another failure but good comeback.We should not forget that England is currently no 1 team in ICC rankings and they have beaten Pakistan(who won in India last month) recently in similar conditions at UAE and Aus at home.So the victories against them are very encouraging for our youngsters.However Indian fans should not get carried away by couple of ODI victories , lot of improvement is needed as India have been struggling in all formats from last two years.For Eng wickets of Pietersen and Cook were crucial,one of them should have played long innings to guide struggling middle order, but luckily India got those two precious wickets early.

SP68
on January 19, 2013, 6:31 GMT

Do not understand why Pujara is still sitting on bench. He will also become rusty like Rahane. Probably he should wait for somebody to get injured in the team so that he will be in the playing XI

SherjilIslam
on January 19, 2013, 7:08 GMT

I think England would struggle to reach 300 as Shami Ahmad had already got Cook and England are not scoring above 3 for the first 10 overs.

mzm149
on January 19, 2013, 7:42 GMT

Pietersen was not out ... that was wrong decision

Solid_Snake
on January 19, 2013, 7:44 GMT

Pujara lol..He is a test batman..Look at his strike rate..I wonder why every Indian fan is asking Selectors to Let Pujara in..

Akshita29
on January 19, 2013, 7:45 GMT

I love to see Kp bat . Kp hit his pad and then the ball brushed the trousers 2 give 2 sounds . A good innings from Kp would have made the match interesting . Now its a one way traffic. Real poor umpiring . Have to say .

Sugath
on January 19, 2013, 7:53 GMT

This is not the way for Indian Cricket to move forward. ODI, T20 are very competitive and could go down to the wire. So one bad decision can upset the apple cart. That is why you must have DRS. But unfortunately India of all the countries is opposed when playing in India. Already one bad decision in giving a not out batsman out due no DRS. This is not the way to win, not at all costs. You must win in a fair play. No wonder when India play overseas they are so helpless.
India, please accept DRS just like others so that there will be fair play for both teams. Do hope saner council will prevail

QingdaoXI
on January 19, 2013, 8:20 GMT

It is not KP has only suffer, Indian batsmen too suffer because of absence of DRS , it makes things even.

Hash_Tag
on January 19, 2013, 8:28 GMT

Pujara still warming the bench..... But. Bad decision for KP so that will probably be the game. I agree with other posters here. I can't believe some of the umpiring in this series which has deprived us watching fine quality batting on both sides. I would rather win fair and square than by crucial umpiring calls. I think we will win this now - but it will be a tainted win.

Jaffa79
on January 19, 2013, 8:37 GMT

Kieswetter has to go. Average keeper and he is just a one dimensional slogger with no variety or skill to his batting. I'd put Bairstow, Buttler, Prior, Davies and Mustard all way above him. It is not as if we don't have alternatives!

Jits_SRTian
on January 19, 2013, 8:40 GMT

@Sugath.. I dont like the way you seem to imply that India by not opting for DRS is resorting to cheating. Being anti India is one but bad logic is a weakness you should overcome else it could affect other sphere of ones life adversely. :). How does not oping to cheating as you seem to imply. Batsmen from both sides get reprieves or bad decisions. I suggest you look at the past history when India used DRS and still got howlers. I think DRS will still have human errors although it is still a step in the right direction.